A Last Family Christmas
by Emerald1
Summary: An out of town interview gives Gibbs a glimpse of his newest agent he never expected; one he couldn't walk away from.
1. Chapter 1

**a/n - An angst holiday story for all of you. I wasn't going to start posting for another week or so, but my mother wants this story now so thank her.**

A Last Family Christmas

Set early in Season Two, just a few weeks after McGee joins the team.

Timothy McGee wasn't sure, but he suspected it was self-preservation that made Tony and Kate suggest he go with Gibbs to Syracuse to interview a witness instead of either of them. Either way, it had been a long trip there and back as the fall colors flew by in a blur.

The speeds may not have been as bad, but this trip was making Timothy McGee just as nervous as when he had first ridden with his boss, only a few weeks ago. Despite the churning of his stomach, he had to ask. "Boss, it's a long drive back to the Yard, are we going to stop for a dinner break?"

Gibbs grinned to himself. They wouldn't be getting back until at least 2300. He was wondering when the kid's hunger would overcome his fear. "Yeah, sure, you got someplace in mind?"

"Scranton?" He looked so eager, Gibbs couldn't hide the grin any longer.

"Then Scranton it is. That's a big town, is there a pretty waitress someplace you want to check out?" The grin kept growing as McGee fidgeted. Eventually, he grew impatient. "Just spit it out, McGee. Contrary to popular belief, I was young and carefree myself once, too."

"I was hoping… I thought…" Just when Gibbs was getting ready to headslap the answer out of him, he blurted out his request. "While you're having dinner, I thought I could go to the hospital and visit my mom."

To say Gibbs was stunned would have been an understatement. "Aww, hell McGee, why didn't you say something sooner? Sure we can stop. Just let me know what exit, alright?" As they drew closer to Scranton Gibbs covertly watched the other man. He'd had no idea McGee's mother was hospitalized, let alone not in their hometown.

Once he'd dropped McGee of at the hospital, Gibbs pulled into the first available restaurant. One greasy spoon was pretty much like the next and he ordered with only the barest glance at the menu. He dragged the meal out as best he could before ordering a club sandwich and potato chips to go for McGee. Back in the hospital parking lot, Gibbs found he was still a few minutes early, so he made the choice to go in rather than just call McGee.

"Ma'am, one of my men is here visiting his mother. Could you head me in the right direction? The last name is McGee." After a quick glance at his badge she pulled up the information on her computer screen.

"I can't tell you anything about a patient, of course, but you can probably find your man on the seventh floor oncology wing."

Once in the elevator, Gibbs leaned against the metal wall and closed his eyes. He would have never dreamed that McGee's mother was being treated for cancer. He knew the boy was shy, painfully so at times, but this was something pretty big to keep hidden away.

A helpful volunteer pointed out the waiting room for oncology when Gibbs arrived at the seventh floor. An older version of his young agent was slumped in one of the chairs. "Mr. McGee?"

"Agent Gibbs." He needn't read Tim's background to know his father was retired Navy, he knew it the second the man stood. "Thank you for letting Tim stop and see his mom, it was a wonderful surprise for her."

"I'm glad we were able to arrange it. How is your wife?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Gibbs wanted to kick himself. He never knew how to handle these sorts of things, that's part of why he was happy to have Kate on the team to do it for him.

The senior McGee wasn't offended by his question. "Maggie has more bad days than good I'm afraid, and please call me Dennis. Today's chemo was particularly rough, but when Tim walked through the door it gave her such a lift."

"Then we'll see if we can get him home a bit more often." He'd never driven through the town McGee's family called home, but he remembered that it was somewhere to the north of Scranton, probably another two hour drive.

Dennis gave a weary smile as he shook Gibbs' hand. "Thank you, between his two jobs we don't get to see him as much as we'd like to."

"Dad." The tone was slightly disapproving and very strained as McGee stepped out of the room across from the waiting area. "It's not his fault that we've got a heave case load right now." He turned to the other man. "Hey, Boss, let me hit the restroom real quick and we can get back on the road."

"No rush, McGee." Despite his reassurances, the kid made a bee-line to the public restroom at the end of the corridor, but Gibbs was pretty sure the kid needed the privacy more than the relief.

"Agent Gibbs?" The words were so faint Gibbs wasn't sure he'd heard them, but before he could be sure he was being escorted into Maggie McGee's hospital room. "Agent Gibbs, is that you?"

"Hello ma'am." Gibbs took the trembling hand that was being held up. It was ice cold and he noticed that her nail beds were slightly blue, despite the oxygen she was receiving. A scarf on her head made a feeble attempt to hide her hair loss, but it was the IV port under her collarbone that showed how ill she truly was.

"Tim's so excited to be part of your team, I'm so glad to meet you before... well, before." Exhausted from that short of a speech, she had to stop and catch her breath, but Gibbs understood. He'd seen very few cancer patients in his life, but he'd seen enough to know that Maggie McGee was nearing the end of a long battle.

"You've raised a fine young man and I'm proud to have him on my team." He waited for the question he could see in her eyes.

"He doesn't think he has the right to ask... please, when it's time, promise me...

The realization of what she was asking almost took his breath away. "I'll make sure he gets home in time."

"Thank you." Her words faded off as exhaustion won out. Gibbs gently laid her hand at her side and quietly stepped out of the room. Dennis McGee was just outside the door.

"You heard?"

The elder McGee nodded. "I realize how much she is asking, but it would mean so much if Timmy could be with her at the end. Our youngest is still in high school and our oldest is stationed in the Gulf. Even if he's granted compassionate leave, chances are it won't happen in time."

"No matter what, I'll get Tim home in time." Gibbs pulled a card out of his wallet and handed it to Dennis. Silently he promised to get their older son home in time also. "Keep me updated and let me know if there is anything else I can do."

Glancing toward the still closed restroom door, Tim's father slipped the card in his shirt pocket. "Just knowing he's in good hands is a relief, Agent Gibbs. I worry that he's pushing himself too hard, but honestly we'd lose the house and the private nurse if he weren't helping with the expenses right now."

The comment about the second job made much more sense now. "Like I told your wife, he's a fine young man. I wouldn't have added him to my team if I didn't think so." There were a lot of questions running through his head, but Tim walking out of the restroom ended that for him. Gibbs stepped back to give father and son the illusion of privacy as they said their goodbyes before the two agents boarded the elevator.

The silence was almost overwhelming during the ride to the ground level with McGee lost in his own thoughts and Gibbs unsure of how he would take any show of comfort. They were walking out to the car before Gibbs broke the silence. "There's a sandwich in the car for you. We'll grab some coffee before we get back on the freeway, all right?"

McGee seemed surprised at the gesture. "Umm, thanks, Boss. How much do I owe you?"

"Don't worry about it, McGee. Consider it thanks for being a much better behaved passenger than DiNozzo." That earned him a slight chuckle as McGee tore into his meal.

At the coffee shop, Gibbs insisted on purchasing the coffees while McGee tossed his trash in a nearby garbage can. Once back in the car, Gibbs studied his passenger rather than fire up the engine. McGee was rather unnerved by the scrutiny. "Boss?"

"How much?"

"Sir?"

It was the nervous use of sir that told Gibbs the young man knew what he was asking, but he let the pretended ignorance slide for the moment. Instead, he re-asked the question with more detail. "How much of your paycheck is going to your family every month, or should I say paychecks? What is your second job, by the way? With the hours we keep, I can't imagine it's something with a set schedule."

McGee started with the ending questions first. "No, no set schedule. I build webpages and databases for people. As long as I get them done before they need it, they don't care when I work on it. That's what I'm living on."

"You're sending your entire paycheck home." A statement, not a question, so McGee didn't respond right away but the next question forced an answer out of him. "Why isn't your brother helping?"

"They think he is." Tim fidgeted with the lid on his coffee. "My parents don't know how much child support and alimony he got nailed with when Sharon divorced him."

"Damn it, McGee."

"It's not that bad, Boss. I don't need that much to live on and it's not like it's going to last that much longer." He almost choked on the last words and turned to look out the passenger side window as he regained his composure.

Gibbs gave him a moment to pull himself together before laying down a ground rule. "All right, but if things get too bad, I want you to let me know."

"Sure, Boss."

Those two short words told Leroy Jethro Gibbs something about his newest agent that he hadn't known before. Timothy McGee was a terrible liar. He didn't call the young man on it though, it would be much easier to keep track of the situation if he played it close to the vest as his grandfather would always say.

First things first, "did you drive to the Yard this morning?"

McGee seemed surprised by the question. "No, si..Boss, I ride in on the Metro."

The Metro was something that Gibbs avoided at all costs, but he did know enough about it to know that they probably would not arrive back at the Yard in time for McGee to catch the last train to Silver Spring. "Do you need anything from your desk tonight?"

"I have everything with me." McGee indicated the backpack tucked under his feet on the floorboard.

"There's no point in you riding all the way back to the Yard just to turn around and ride the train back this way. I'll drop you off. That way I don't have to go to the Yard either."

Any objections he might have given were squashed by the tone of Gibbs' voice, which gave no room for argument or discussion. Traffic was light and they made good time, but Gibbs never mentioned that they would have made it to the Yard in time for McGee to catch the last train. Instead, he kept quiet, knowing that McGee was nervous enough around him that he would not instigate a conversation that was not related to the case.

If McGee was surprised that Gibbs knew the way to his tiny apartment, he didn't let on. For his part, Gibbs didn't let on how much it bothered him that a member of the top team at NCIS was living in such a run-down apartment complex.

After dropping the young man off, Gibbs lingered at the corner until he saw lights go on in the top floor apartment. Satisfied he could do no more that night, he turned his car towards home as he thought through various ways he could covertly help his agent and his family.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n - I'm glad you guys are liking this one. Thanks for all the wonderful comments.**

three weeks later...

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving." DiNozzo shoved his notebook into his jacket pocket as he turned toward a nearby restaurant. "Come on, Probie, let's grab some grub before we head back to the Yard."

Tim thought briefly about the three dollars and some change he had in his pocket. "Gibbs is expecting us back soon, Tony. Besides, I brought my lunch."

Tony would not be dissuaded. "Fine, I'll get it to go." He left McGee standing next to the locked car as he went in to the restaurant for food and some face time with the pretty hostess. When the rain started, McGee moved under the awning, but it wasn't enough to keep him dry. DiNozzo only looked slightly embarrassed when he came out with his food and the car keys.

Back in the Yard, DiNozzo didn't have to admit to anything. Gibbs knew the second he saw him with a bag of food and a soggy co-worker.

*Whack*

"The next time you decide to feed your face, at least give your partner the keys to the car."

Tony rubbed the back of his head. "It's not my fault he didn't want lunch, Boss. Why he'd rather eat peanut butter instead of the best Chicken Alfredo in DC is beyond me."

Gibbs knew exactly why the young man in question was eating a peanut butter sandwich brought from home, but he hoped that DiNozzo would use some of his vaulted investigative skills to pick up on the problem and cut the kid some slack.

Kate entered the squad room in time to hear the exchange. "He probably didn't want to get stuck with the bill again, Tony."

The only reason Gibbs didn't jump down Tony's throat right then and there was because McGee was sitting less than ten feet from them. Instead, he waited until there was a reason to send McGee to Abby's lab.

Tony knew something was eating at Gibbs. He wasn't sure what it was exactly, but he knew he was in trouble for it. Having Gibbs perch on the edge of his desk while Tony was working was a first, and probably not in a good way.

"It stops now, DiNozzo. Razzing the rookie is one thing, but he's not your servant and he sure as hell is not your bank." Gibbs leaned into his space to show he was serious.

DiNozzo wasn't ready to take the comments at face value. "Oh, come on, Boss."

Part of Gibbs just wanted to tell DiNozzo, knowing that once faced with the truth, he would work hard at taking the kid under his wing. The realistic side of Gibbs knew how much McGee craved his privacy and wouldn't want his family's troubles discussed behind his back. Jethro Gibbs was a realist, but he could leave a few bread crumbs and hope that somebody noticed the trail.

"I don't think McGee is that fond of generic peanut butter."

"Federal agents don't exactly make minimum wage, Gibbs. Maybe he shouldn't spend so much on computer stuff and join the real world. I know he bought a new modem last week."

Gibbs bit back a sigh. Yes, he knew about the modem, a necessary purchase for his second job. He also knew about the many nights McGee spent working on his laptop at an all night cybercafe until he broke down and spent the money so he could safely work at home. He knew about it because the cafe had been robbed while McGee was there. DiNozzo hadn't picked up on the off-duty arrest his Probie had made, but as team leader Gibbs had gotten the middle of the night phone call. A call that had certainly given him a few more gray hairs. "Do you have internet at home, DiNozzo?"

"Yeah, sure I do, Boss." Tony begrudgingly conceded the point. "Okay, he probably needed a modem, but still, he needs to learn to loosen up a little bit."

Kate joined them with the files she had been printing out. "You know, Tony, he probably had to pay through the nose to break his lease down in Norfolk and then turn around and pay first, last and deposit on an apartment up here."

Thankful that one of them was thinking down the right path, Gibbs took the offered files and turned his attention back to the case, leaving the other two to think about what was said. Six hours later when Gibbs dropped a burger on McGee's desk, Tony was miffed, but Kate was thoughtful.

---NCIS---

"You coming, McGee?" Kate picked up her coat and purse as she shut down her computer. Closing a case on a Friday always meant a celebration to her and Tony, but so far Tim had yet to join them at their ritual.

DiNozzo was already at the elevator, waiting. "Forget it, Kate. McPure doesn't do the club scene. He'd rather stay at home and play his computer games."

After Gibbs' vague hints a few days earlier, Kate wasn't so convinced about McGee's reasons for always turning them down. "It will be pretty laid back, Tim. We'll just kick back, have a couple of beers and watch Tony try to pick up some women. Come on, it'll be fun."

In truth, it was tempting. He knew he could nurse one beer for however long they would be at the club, and watching Tony crash and burn with the babe of the week would be fun, but he was almost done with the web-page he was working on. One more weekend of coding and he could hand it over and get paid. Just in time, too, because his kitchen was seriously bare. "Thanks, Kate, it does sound like fun, but I really can't tonight."

Satisfied that she had at least tried, Kate turned to leave. "Don't play all night, McGee. Gibbs will have your head if you're not ready for a full day tomorrow. Remember, we're on call."

Gibbs was actually upstairs, watching the interaction. He'd hoped the kid would take one evening off to spend some downtime with his teammates, since he knew McGee had planned on having a project ready for one of his clients earlier that the week. McGee was still packing up when Gibbs entered the squad room.

"You working again tonight? I thought you finished that database Tuesday."

"I did," McGee sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. As much as he hated to admit to problems, he always felt better after confiding in Gibbs. "The problem is that they filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday. I'm working on a new interactive web-page design for a lawyer now."

"Bankruptcy? You didn't know they were in financial trouble? Are you going to be able to get your money out of them?" Gibbs knew how many hours went into that project and was furious that someone took advantage of the kid that way.

McGee could feel the anger and for a fleeting second thought it was directed at him. "One of the partners decided to split the company. He took all the money and left his partner all the bills. The partner I've always worked with..."

"Was the one left holding the bag." Gibbs finished for him. "Is he filing charges?"

"He can't. I helped him go through the options with someone from Metro's white collar unit. They had a straight partnership, not incorporated. There's not a darn thing he can do about it." In truth, Tim had become well versed in the laws regarding business assets over the last few days, but the Metro detective had been right, the partner was going to get away scott free.

As angry as Gibbs was over the situation, he had to secretly smile at his young agent's inability to curse about it and decided to concentrate on more practical concerns at the moment. "Come on, I'm not in the mood to eat alone tonight."

"Boss?"

Gibbs smiled as he steered him towards the elevator. "I'm in the mood for spaghetti and no one makes it better than Mama Rose, but I sure can't show up there by myself."

"You can't?" Tim had heard of the restaurant, Mama Rose's, but he wasn't sure why the Boss couldn't be alone there.

Standing behind McGee in the elevator, Gibbs let his smile widen. In truth, Mama Rose was a good-hearted woman from the old country. He knew she'd take one look at his youngest agent and take him in under her wing, and after a simple whisper in her ear he'd leave the restaurant with a doggie bag that would feed him for days. All he needed was a little subterfuge to make sure McGee didn't realize his plan.

"She's still trying to marry off her last couple of daughters. The last thing I need is another ex-wife."

McGee was a little confused. "So, she won't bother you about it if someone else is with you?"

"She'll be much more interested in you." It took a slight shove to get a worried McGee moving now that the elevator was at the ground floor.

As planned, the combination of McGee's baby face, his shy bumbling politeness, and a few well placed words from Gibbs had Timothy McGee being served a plate of spaghetti that gave him enough leftovers to carry him through the weekend.

Knowing that McGee planned on working long hours over the next few days, Gibbs didn't drag out their meal. McGee didn't catch the wink Rose gave Gibbs when she personally took his plate to pack up his leftovers, but Gibbs was pretty sure he'd find a few extra meatballs and bread sticks when he opened the package the next day.

---NCIS---

Kate kicked Tony's leg to get his attention. "Do you have any idea what's going on with McGee? He's our junior partner, we should be keeping an eye on him."

"No, we shouldn't." Tony held up his empty glass to get the waitress's attention. "The kid is too soft; what we should be doing is toughening him up. Otherwise this job is going to eat him alive."

She wasn't convinced. "But Gibbs..."

"Gibbs has the kid's dad on speed dial, for God's sake, Kate." Tony leaned forward, a serious look on his face for the first time that evening. "He's too careful with McGee. If something happens to the kid because he couldn't handle a situation, it'll kill the Boss."

"Maybe there's a reason he's so gentle with Tim."

"The reason's not going to matter if the Probie gets his head blown off because he froze in the middle of a gun fight, Katie. We're the ones that are going to have to take the lead in teaching him to be street savvy."

Kate wasn't totally convinced, but she had to admit that Tony had a good point.

---NCIS---

Both men were quiet during the ride to Silver Spring. Gibbs didn't ask if he wanted a ride home, he just started heading that direction. He also didn't ask about McGee's mother; his weekly check with Dennis McGee had told him that she was continuing to deteriorate. Instead, as was his style, he concentrated on the practical.

"Is your car running all right for the next time you go home for a visit?" His trained eye told him that the ancient and battered car hadn't moved from his assigned spot in his apartment's parking lot in many weeks. "You're firing it up once in a while to keep the battery charged?"

McGee sighed slightly as he tried to figure out how Gibbs always knew. "The engine and battery are fine. The clutch is starting to go, but it should get me home one more time."

"It should get you home?" The tone of Gibbs' voice told exactly what he thought of that gamble. "On a car that old, the clutch isn't that hard to work on."

"I know, Dad said he'd help me change it." Tim could see that he was not convincing his boss, so he continued to explain. "I don't have the tools I'd need and I can't work on it here. It's against the apartment rules to do any kind of maintenance on your car on the premises."

Part of the reason Gibbs would never be an apartment dweller was the restrictions. "I've got the tools and the space, McGee. The next weekend we're not on call you limp that thing over to my place and we'll get the clutch changed." To make sure the kid knew that it wasn't open to discussion or debate, he tapped him on the back of the head. "You got that?"

"I got it, Boss." Now all he needed to do was to come up with the money for the parts.


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n - not a huge chapter, but the next one can't be broken down so this is where it had to stop. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, you guys sure make up for the jerk I was dealing with over the last couple of days. I noticed a story summary that sounded familiar - like word for word - to the summary to a story a friend wrote a while ago. I clicked on the link, and the story was a cut and paste theft of the first chapter of her story, with more "coming soon". (her complete story is a great piece called Doubts - check it out and tell her Emerald said hi) As soon as he was publicly shown to be a plagiarist, he took that story down. **

**A group of us started looking closer at the rest of the stories he had just posted for NCIS (all 4 stories were posted within 2 days) and yes, all of them were cut and paste thefts of other writers stories. As soon as we made "reviews" he would remove each story, one by one. Yesterday afternoon he was told that the stories he had in other fandoms would be checked to see if they were stolen too and if they were, he might as well take them down. This morning he's got a new name on the site and all his remaining stories are gone. Surprise, surprise - not. The next time a story is posted by NCISNation, formerly known as RKO-kid 099, you can bet it will be checked and it sure as heck better not be one of mine he steals.**

**Sorry for the rant, can you tell that plagerism is a huge hot button for me? Enjoy the chapter!!**

* * *

Tom Morrow tipped his coffee cup at Gibbs as he congratulated him. Clearing Fornell and proving the identity of the mole that Napolitano had at the FBI was certainly a feather in the cap of NCIS and Morrow was more than a little pleased. "Have they determined if Agent Charles was working alone?"

"Looks that way, but Fornell's still rattling some cages over there. If there's an accomplice, he'll find them." Gibbs gave a wolfish smile as he finished his coffee. "He's also a little pissed that it took our agency to solve their problem."

That little tidbit seemed to amuse the Director as much as it amused Gibbs, but Morrow became serious as he changed the subject. "Everything is all set up. We can get Robert McGee home from his duty station within twenty four hours after his father makes the request."

"That's good, sir. I know McGee has been worried about his brother not getting home to see their mom one last time. What base?" Gibbs started thinking through the options to help get Robert to the small town of Dryden that Dennis McGee had retired to.

Morrow shook his head. "When I said home, I meant home. I called in a few favors, got him hooked up with a friend of mine that runs a transportation company. They can get him within five miles of their hometown, the local LEO's will take him the rest of the way."

"Thank you, sir. That will be a huge burden lifted off the family. I know that will be a relief to the kid." Gibbs hadn't wanted to get Tim's hopes up before he knew they could pull it off, but he'd never dreamed that the Director would take such a personal interest in their youngest agent's problems.

Hiring an agent with the intelligence and education of Timothy McGee had been a bit of a coup for his agency, made possible by a combination of the young man's interest in the Navy and a colossal mistake in the personnel department of the FBI who had misfiled his approved application. Tom Morrow was glad to help him through a difficult time. The fact that the boy's plight was reaching through the wall Gibbs put up around himself was a plus. "How's Agent McGee holding up?"

"Pretty good, considering." Gibbs turned down the refill of coffee. Morrow's assistant could do many things, but make a decent cup of coffee was not on the list. "He can get a little distracted when we're stuck doing paperwork, but he pulls it together when we're out in the field."

"Under the circumstances that's totally understandable. Has he confided in his teammates yet?"

"Not yet. He's still a little unsure of himself with them." To anyone who knew him, Gibbs had a lot more to say on the subject, but he stayed quiet. Morrow didn't need it to be drawn out for him. Torturing a newbie was a time honored tradition and DiNozzo was an expert. If it weren't for the imminent death of McGee's mother and the financial burden he was under, Morrow wouldn't have given it a second thought.

"Perhaps you should tell them."

Gibbs shook his head. "No, at least not yet. I think they'll figure it out eventually and right now not being overwhelmed with sympathy is probably a plus in McGee's book."

"You know your people, Gibbs. I'll leave it up to you." Morrow also secretly knew that Gibbs coped with tragedy by keeping it hidden. He had made a point of learning the complete background of the man before he became the team leader of the Major Crime Response Team. With any luck, helping McGee would also help Gibbs.

---NCIS---

Gibbs leaned over the monitor, startling McGee. "Is that Datsun of yours a five speed or a four speed? What year is it?"

"It's a... it's a four speed, Boss, and it's an eighty-one." McGee tried not to cringe. They had worked straight through the last two weekends and it was still several weeks before their next scheduled weekend off. He was setting money aside, but he hadn't planned on purchasing the parts until right before they were needed.

"When was the last time you replaced the clutch?"

"Umm, never?" This time he did cringe as he rushed to explain. "The last owner replaced it a couple of months before I bought it."

"So... how many miles have you put on it?"

"Maybe a hundred thousand?" When Gibbs raised an eyebrow at his unsure answer, he defended himself. "I've had the car since I was seventeen and the odometer's never worked."

Now it was Gibbs' turn to cringe as he realized the hundred dollars the parts would cost was probably more than the car was worth. "All right, while we're at it, we're going to change the pressure plate."

McGee's cringe was joined by a wince. "I've only been budgeting for the clutch."

"Don't worry about it, McGee, we'll work something out. It looks like we're switching with Balboa, so we'll be working on your car next weekend." Gibbs patted his shoulder as he turned to go. "The main thing is to make sure you're able to get home when the time comes."

---NCIS---

"Tony, have you talked to McGee?"

"About what?" DiNozzo looked over at Kate as they drove back from Lt. Commander Miki Shields' house after getting her signature on the last of the paperwork.

Between the two men, Kate was frustrated and worried. "About his finances. Something is wrong, Tony. There is no way he should be struggling this much."

"Oh, come on, Kate. You said it yourself a couple of weeks ago. It's probably just a cash flow issue from moving up here. He'll be fine after another pay cycle."

"I don't think so, Tony. I checked on where he was living in Norfolk. He didn't even have an apartment, he was renting a room over somebody's garage." She sat back, waiting to see how he would react.

They were at a red light so he could look over at her for a moment as he thought. "Okay, if he didn't have a renters history, he probably had to pay an extra deposit on his new apartment. He's probably got a heck of pile of student loans to pay off. MIT's not cheap to go to, I'm sure."

Kate shook her head. "He had a full ride scholarship to MIT and both a scholarship and a teaching fellowship to John Hopkins. He never needed a student loan."

"Really?" Tony had received some athletic scholarship money at Ohio, but he knew somebody had to be pretty smart to get an academic full ride at those kinds of schools. He'd never admit that the kid's brains made him insecure at times.

"I think Gibbs knows what's going on, and he expects us to figure it out ourselves."

Tony tried to lighten her mood with his trademark grin. "Well, yeah, Gibbs know. He always knows, but Kate, most guys don't want to admit it when they've screwed up with money. If you're worried, we can get him lunch this afternoon, but cut him some slack, okay?" To prove his point, he pulled the car in at his favorite Chinese restaurant.

---NCIS---

"Gibbs, what do I owe this honor to?" Faith Coleman accepted the coffee he handed her as she finished her daily run. "Don't tell me this is going to become a habit." It had been a few weeks since the Yost case and she didn't expect to see him again so soon.

He handed her a file. "You could look this over for me."

Intrigued, she flipped through the first few pages, just glancing at the names. "McGee vs McGee, your agent is divorced?"

"His brother. I've seen a few divorce settlements in my day, hell, I've signed more than my fair share of them, but there's something off about that one." Gibbs settled in as she started looking over the paperwork more closely.

After a few minutes Faith looked up at him with a puzzled look. "The entire divorce happened when Lt. McGee was overseas and his lawyer didn't argue at all about the terms. Either the lawyer was an idiot, or Robert McGee is paying his ex-wife off over something. I know the judge, I could ask some questions, but if it turns out that your man's brother was hiding something..."

"Just come to me first." He hoped that the experience with Ernie Yost would make her more willing to trust him on this.

Trust was one thing, but the JAG attorney needed facts. "Tell me what's going on, Gibbs."

He wasn't thrilled, but Gibbs knew anything he told her would be kept in strict confidence. "Their mother is in the final stages of cancer. The two brothers are supposed to be helping with the medical expenses, but because of this divorce settlement Robert can't handle his end."

"Tim's paying the whole thing." Coleman's use of McGee's first name surprised Gibbs more than her instant comprehension of the situation.

Gibbs nodded slowly. "If Robert got shafted by a shady divorce lawyer that's one thing, but if he's pulled something that's caused his ex to go after him like this, I want to know about it."


	4. Chapter 4

**This section ended up much bigger than I thought, so I had to divide it. With any luck there should be a chapter tomorrow too. My car broke down, it's only nine degrees here and all my pipes are frozen. How's your day so far? Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, they truly are the highlight of days like this.**

"Hey, Boss, where's McGee?" Tony turned in his completed paperwork as he looked around.

Gibbs made him wait while he skimmed the report. Marking a couple of areas he wanted clarified, he handed it back to be fixed. "He's already left."

"Already?" DiNozzo made a show out of looking at his watch. "Kinda early, isn't it?"

"Didn't know I had to clear it with you, DiNozzo." The droll response wasn't lost on his senior agent and he looked embarrassed.

"Didn't mean it like that, Boss. Just thought the kid would like to have a movie night with the rest of us."

For a moment, Gibbs felt guilty. He'd been hoping that Tony and Kate would put more effort into taking Tim under their wings, but he'd already sent him out to Silver Spring to pick up his car. Gibbs wanted him safely at his house before the heavy Friday night commute started. Stop and go traffic and a failing clutch were a bad combination, especially in the dark. Truthfully, they wouldn't start working on the car until in the morning, so Tim could spend the evening with his teammates. "If he gets back in time, I'll send him your direction."

"Back?"

"He's running an errand for me." It was a half truth, but it would do. A pointed look at the file folder in DiNozzo's hand sent him back to his own desk to rewrite his report. After another half hour, he sent the rest of the team home, citing the many extra hours they had spent on the last case. It was enough of a rarity that neither Tony nor Kate argued or dallied around.

Gibbs only spent another twenty minutes at his desk before he followed Tony and Kate out the door. Instead of turning left to head home, he made a right hand turn out of the yard to pick up more parts for McGee's car.

After careful planning and budgeting, McGee had picked up the clutch and pressure plate a few days earlier. However, Gibbs had managed to take a look at the car and decided a little more work was needed before it would be roadworthy, especially with winter just around the corner. His friend, Joe, had given the kid a great deal on the transmission parts and he was now holding the hoses, belts and heater fan Gibbs felt were needed.

---NCIS---

"Joe, good to see you again." Gibbs reached out and shook the hand of his fellow Marine. Joe Morris had served with Gibbs, but had been sent home minus his right leg, injured in the same bombing that had left Gibbs in a coma. He was also one of the few people who knew about the other man's lost family.

"You too, Jethro." Joe took a good look at his old friend. He wouldn't swear to it, but he seemed a little less haunted than the last time he'd seen him in person. "Have you got time for some coffee?"

Even though he knew his answer, Gibbs automatically checked the time. "Better not, the kid's on his way to my place right now."

"Gonna get started on it tonight?"

"Nah, probably not until the morning, but I want to make sure he gets a decent meal tonight." Gibbs saw a bag sitting on the counter with his name on it. "Those my parts?"

Morris bit back a grin as he nodded. This was the Gibbs he remembered from the old days, back before Shannon and Kelly died. Back then, they were always taking in a stray and helping him get back on his feet. "Yep, everything you asked for is in there. I also threw in new hose clamps. Chances are the ones in the car are the originals." He reached in and grabbed one of the clamps so Gibbs could see the odd screw configuration. "You got a tip like that?"

"Nope, can't say that I do. I don't usually work on an import like this." Truth be told, this would be the first time his metric wrenches would be out of their box.

"Yeah, I figured as much." Joe dug around in a box under the counter and came up with the needed driver tip and tossed it in the bag. "If your kid needs some work, I could give him some hours around here. It won't be much, but it might help."

Gibbs shook his head with a smile. Morris had always been a soft touch. "Thanks, but he's working two full time jobs as it is."

"Then why..." Joe waved his hands at the bag of parts.

"His mom's terminal and he's supporting his family back home. I just want to make sure his car's going to get him there when the time comes."

"Aw, hell. If I'd have known, I'd have given him that clutch and pressure plate." He waved the money away as Gibbs pulled out his wallet. "Use it to make sure he's got plenty of gas, okay?"

---NCIS---

Tim pulled into Gibbs' driveway, stopping in front of the garage. Gibbs had handed him a key as he left so he could unlock the garage when he arrived. All the way over he'd wondered why a man who didn't even have locks on his house bothered to lock his garage, but he'd decided that he'd have to work for the man for years to understand Jethro Gibbs.

As he climbed out of the car, Tim could hear the sound of a leaf blower nearby. Suspicious by the amount of leaves in Gibbs front yard, he walked around to the side of the property. A glare Gibbs would have been proud of changed the neighbor's direction and he began working towards the street. Satisfied that the problem had been solved, Tim moved his car into the garage. Planning on helping with the piles of leaves in the yard, Tim went through the yard, kicking at the leaves and checking for any rocks or branches hidden underneath them. Once he was satisfied, he tugged the lawnmower out and checked the gas level in it. The weather report showed that rain would be starting before the weekend was over, so today was the ideal day to mulch the leaves down.

Gibbs pulled up to his house in time to see McGee bent over the lawnmower. In shorts and a worn sweatshirt he looked impossibly young as he topped off the tank on the mower. "You don't have to do that." He grabbed the bag of parts, tugging as it caught on the door latch, and walked across the yard to join McGee.

"Hey, Boss." McGee straightened up and set the gas can aside. "Today's the last dry day for a while. I figured it's better to do it now than to wait. Besides, you're gathering more leaves than your trees are producing." He gave a meaningful nod in the direction of the neighbor still blowing leaves towards the street. "Once I get them chopped up, do you want them bagged up or use them to insulate your raised beds?

Winter snows were only a few weeks away and protecting the plants seemed like a smart idea. "You seem to know what you're doing."

"Mom always had huge gardens when I was growing up." He turned wistful as he continued. "After she got sick the first time I convinced myself that if I could keep her gardens going while she was in the hospital, she'd have something to come home to. Every afternoon after school, I'd spend hours keeping them as perfect as I could."

Of everything Gibbs knew of the family's struggles, somehow this was the hardest to hear. "How old were you when she first got sick?"

Tim leaned against the mower handle. "She had her first mastectomy when I was eleven. This is her third bout of cancer. For a while they thought she'd beaten it." Obviously ready to end the subject, he primed the mower engine and grabbed the starter cord. "It shouldn't take too long to mulch these leaves down, Boss. You can decide what you want done with them later."

As McGee started on the yard, Gibbs walked into the garage and set the bag on the workbench. As he sorted out the clamps and the hoses, he noticed the small tear from where he had caught it. A quick check showed that the small screwdriver tip was missing from the bag. Just as he realized that it had probably dropped in the yard where McGee was currently working, he heard a sharp cry as the mower cut off.

"McGee!" Gibbs dropped the hoses and rushed out to the yard. Tim was on the ground, clutching at his left calf. Even from across the yard, Gibbs could see the blood welling up between his fingers.

"Guess I missed something when I checked the yard." Tim paled even more when he looked down at his leg. "Oh, man."

"Look at me, not at your leg." His voice was sharper than he was intending, but it did the trick as McGee focused on him. He pulled McGee's hand away from the wound to take a quick look at it before pressing McGee's hand back into position. "I'll grab a first aid kit, don't try to get up."

Gibbs cursed at himself as he retrieved the medical kit from the car. The dropped screwdriver tip had been approximately the size and shape of a small caliber bullet and had done a similar amount of damage, carving a deep gash in the younger man's leg before burying itself under the skin. The bulge on the side of his calf showed exactly where the projectile had come to rest.

Careful to only put pressure on the open, bleeding wound, Gibbs wrapped it as best he could before standing and pulling McGee upright. "All right, McGee, lean on me. I'll have you to the hospital in a few minutes." They were almost to his car before Tim said anything.

"Garage isn't locked."

"Don't worry about it, Tim." The fact that the injury wasn't at all life-threatening didn't ease the guilt that Gibbs was feeling as the kid continued to worry about leaving the garage unlocked. Finally after Gibbs managed to get him in the car, he rushed back to lock the garage, just so McGee wouldn't worry.

Traffic was heavy by now, and they arrived at Bethesda just as night fell. Gibbs was stopped at the door to the emergency room and sent to the waiting room.

"Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked up as a nurse called for him. "I'm Gibbs, how is he?" She was a red-head and that got an automatic smile from him.

"He's stable and the bleeding is under control. They're going to move him up to a surgical unit to remove the projectile and better close the wound. You can ride up in the elevator with him and stay in the surgical waiting area if you'd like." She turned and looked over her shoulder as Tim was wheeled out on a stretcher. Gibbs fell in the procession as two orderlies and a nurse took him to the elevator.

"How you doing, McGee?" The green eyes opened, but did not register his presence.

"Pretty lights."

Gibbs laughed and turned to the nurse with them in the elevator. "You must have him on the good stuff."

Now in the upstairs waiting room, Gibbs found himself pulling out his cell phone repeatedly. On the drive, the kid had made him promise not to call and worry his parents, but that was a promise he was having a hard time keeping. To keep his hands busy he found some old issues of Golf Digest. If nothing else, he could unearth some trivia to impress Ducky with at some point. After an hour he considered calling Ducky, but he knew his mother's nurse was on vacation and he had his hands full with the elderly woman.

By now it had been almost two hours and he was starting to think the injury was worse than it first appeared. Just as he was about to storm the surgical unit, a man in scrubs came out and called his name.

"Well?" Gibbs was ready for some answers and barely noticed when the man introduced himself as Dr. Young.

Sensing this was not a time to beat around the bush, Dr. Young came straight to the point. "There was more muscle damage than we were expecting, that's why it took longer, but we were able to repair all the damage and he should have a complete recovery. As soon as he's awake enough and can show that he can handle the crutches, you can take him home."

"Thank you." Gibbs started to reach out to offer a handshake, but saw that he still had McGee's blood on his hands. Dr. Young saw the problem and pointed out a nearby restroom.

"After you're cleaned up, one of the nurses can take you back and you can sit with him if you'd like. He should be waking up in a few more minutes."

---NCIS---

After the first movie was done, Tony went into his kitchen to grab more beers for himself, Kate and Abby. Kate followed him into the kitchen to catch him checking his cell phone.

"You looking to see if you missed a call from McGee?"

Tony shrugged as he handed her a beer. "Boss said he'd send him over when he finished whatever he was doing."

"What was he doing for Gibbs?" Kate accepted the bottle and took a swallow.

"An errand."

Kate didn't sound convinced. "An errand? When was the last time Gibbs sent any of us on an errand?"

"I know it sounds weird, but that's what the Boss said." Tony knew he sounded a little defensive, but something about the kid had Gibbs acting strange and he didn't like it.

"So much for our plan to get him drunk enough to tell us what the problem is."

---NCIS---

As predicted, McGee was awake by the time Gibbs was cleaned up and entered the room. Unfortunately, he was also in the process of being violently ill. When it was done, Gibbs helped him lay back down as the nurse washed his face. She quietly explained the problem. "It's a reaction to the anesthesia. It's not real common, but it does happen."

"Boss, you don't have to stay with me. It's late, you should go home."

Gibbs leaned close so he could be sure McGee was seeing him. "Did you change your mind about me calling your parents?

McGee shook his head. "No, I'll be fine in a few days and there's no point in worrying them. That's no reason for you to..."

"Then I'm staying. Those are your two options, McGee." He was pretty sure the younger man was going to object again, but another wave of nausea ended the conversation.


	5. Chapter 5

**a/n - Still cold, pipes still frozen, but my car should be fixed today. With any luck I can get to my son's college and back tonight before the predicted freezing rain starts. Wish me luck.**

**A short chapter today, but it needed to stand alone. From this point on, there should be daily updates until the story is done.**

* * *

"Thought you could use this." Gibbs opened his eyes to see a cup inches from his nose. He gratefully took it with one hand as he used the other one to rub at his eyes.

"Thanks."

She smiled as she picked up the chart. "Our coffee's pretty good, it almost makes up for how hard those chairs are to sleep in."

Trying to work the kinks out of his back, he had to agree with her. "Almost."

Her laugh woke McGee, who looked around with a bleary expression. "What happened?" When he felt the pain in his leg, he remembered the accident. "I thought I didn't have to stay."

"You don't have to stay, McGee." He waited until the younger man was looking at him before he continued. "You just have to stay awake without puking for more than twenty minutes at a time. When you accomplish that milestone, we can get out of here." Behind them, the nurse slipped out the door as Gibbs hitched one hip up on McGee's bed.

"I'm sorry to cause all these problems, Boss." McGee struggled to sit up and prove that he was ready to be discharged. Gibbs pushed down on his shoulders and instead handed him the control for the bed.

He waited until McGee was sitting upright with the aid of the bed before gently whacking the back of his head. "You know how I feel about apologies, McGee, especially when you haven't done anything wrong."

"But, I missed something when I checked the lawn for debris. I could have wrecked your lawnmower or it could have hit someone else." Tim shook his head in obvious disgust with himself. "I've been mowing lawns since I was old enough to pull the cord, I know better."

To stop his rant, Gibbs held up the small bag the doctor had given him last night. The fact that the hospital treated it like evidence in an assault had not helped to ease his guilt. "It wasn't your mistake, it was mine. This fell out of my bag while we were talking."

McGee took the bag Gibbs was holding in front of his face and studied the metal object. "This is one of those exchangeable tips for a screwdriver." He studied the shape of the tip. "You bought it to work on my car, didn't you?"

The next round of the blame game didn't have time to get started before Dr. Young walked into the room. After a quick exam, the nurse was helping McGee stand up on one leg and tucking the crutches under his arms. She watched as he quickly adjusted them to his height.

"You've used crutches before."

"Yes, ma'am. I broke my femur when I was sixteen. I spent a long time on crutches after I got out of traction. It's a lot easier without the cast." Tim traveled the length of the room several times to prove he could handle being sent home. He wasn't too thrilled about the three flights of stairs to his apartment, but he wasn't going to mention that to the hospital staff.

While one nurse was putting McGee through his paces with the crutches, another was going over his medications with Gibbs. The young man would be on a regiment of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and pain pills for a while. Eventually both nurses left and all that was left to wait for was McGee's discharge papers and a wheelchair.

Despite the swat to the back of his head, McGee couldn't shake the feeling he was imposing on his boss, a man who had done so much for him already. "Is it going to be a problem leaving my car at your place for a few days? I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to work on it now."

Gibbs couldn't believe the kid was worried about taking up space in his garage and it took a concentrated effort not to roll his eyes. "Don't worry about it, McGee. Like I said, it's an easy repair when you have the tools and I'll have DiNozzo help me with lifting the transmission back into place. You just worry about getting better, all right?"

"All right, Boss." He didn't sound convinced, but the orderly arrived with a wheelchair, thus ending the conversation. Tim was quiet on the ride, not noticing their direction until they were almost to Gibbs' house.

Gibbs didn't let him put up an argument. "Not open to discussion, McGee. You're going to be on pretty strong painkillers for the next few days plus antibiotics that might make you sick. Besides, it's not safe for you to be on your own in that rat-trap you call an apartment. Does that place even have heat?"

"It has heat, well, sort of. Besides it's not going to be that cold this weekend." Realizing that he was at the wrong end of a losing battle, McGee resigned himself to spending the next few days camped out at Gibbs' house. The logical side of his mind reminded him that he had been planning on spending the weekend there to begin with.

Marines do not hover, Gibbs told himself as he walked into the house just a few feet behind McGee. He was just prepared in case the injured man lost his balance. McGee navigated the entry just fine and gratefully dropped down onto the sofa. Gibbs helped him ease his legs up onto the cushion and covered him up with a blanket.

Tim was rapidly losing the fight to stay awake, but he still felt he needed to say something to Gibbs. After all, the man had sat with him through a long and miserable night at the hospital. "Boss, I know how you feel about apologies, but I really feel bad that you were stuck with me last night. I'm sure watching me throw up all night wasn't anyone's idea of a fun Friday night." Tim couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, the warm hand on his forehead not helping him stay awake.

Gibbs watched as his young agent succumbed to sleep, despite his best efforts to stay awake. He sat on the edge of the sofa and brushed his hair back before staring out the window in deep thought. Just as clearly as if it were still there, he could see a swing set in the back yard and hear the childish laughter he'd so loved. "It's what we dads do."


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n- Remember that freezing rain I was hoping to beat Friday? I didn't. I just got back into town a few hours ago and with a few more gray hairs. I've been driving for 20 years and I saw more wrecks in the last two days than in all these years. At least being stranded gave me time to finish my rough draft.**

* * *

"Hey, Boss, what's up?" Tony snagged his phone just as he was leaving to meet up with some friends for a football game. There was just enough time to get in a game before the expected rains were supposed to start later that afternoon.

There was an echo on the phone that told DiNozzo that Gibbs was out in his garage, not down in the basement, which was a rare occurrence. "Need an extra set of hands for a few minutes, Tony. Can you swing by here?"

"Sure, Boss, I'm leaving right now." Flipping his phone shut, DiNozzo rushed out the door, all thoughts of the football game now gone. Gibbs was working on a project of some sorts and had asked him for help and it wasn't work related. His tires squealed all the way out of his apartment complex parking lot.

At the other end of the call, Gibbs also closed his phone before returning to the house to check on his sleeping agent. Maybe while DiNozzo was there, he'd have him help get McGee upstairs. He was sure the young man would be more comfortable in a bed. Decision made, he went upstairs to put fresh linens in the rarely used guest bedroom.

---NCIS---

Caitlin Todd wrapped a warm towel around her head as she deep conditioned her hair. Since she only had twenty minutes before her mother's favorite show started, she decided to make a quick call home to confirm that she had put in for her vacation over Christmas. Unfortunately, she wouldn't know if it was confirmed until just a few days before it was scheduled to start. Holidays were extremely hard to get time off for when you were a special agent, but she had put in her request months ago.

Once that phone call was finished, Kate fixed a cup of tea and settled in for a long chat with her sister. Her youngest niece had just started to crawl and she wanted to hear all about it.

---NCIS---

"What in the hell is that?" Tony stood in the open doorway of Gibbs' garage, staring at the car the older man had torn apart. "Wait a minute, I've seen that before. Is that McGee's car?"

"Yep, just put a new clutch and pressure plate in it." Gibbs looked at home in a worn pair of jeans and a sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off. Most surprising to DiNozzo was the fact that Gibbs hadn't shaved that day. "I need you to help me hold the transmission in place while I get the bolts in."

Joining Gibbs on the floor, Tony got down on his hands and knees and looked under the car. Two jack stands held it up in place with several solid blocks making sure it couldn't fall even if it were somehow bumped off of both of the stands. The transmission was laying in position on a floor jack, ready to be lifted back into place. "Umm, yeah, sure but where's McGee? If this is his car, shouldn't he be here helping with it?"

"He can't, he's inside, asleep." Gibbs was paying more attention to lining up the bolt pattern than how Tony would take his comment.

"Asleep? I gave up my last football game of the year so he could sleep in? How'd he con you into this?"

Realizing that he hadn't explained it as best he could, Gibbs refrained from snapping at Tony. "He had emergency surgery last night. I just got him home from the hospital this morning."

"Surgery? Is he going to be okay?"

Gibbs started to pump the jack handle and pointed at Tony to balance the transmission as it was lifted off the floor. "He's pretty doped up and in a lot of pain, but it looks like there's no permanent damage. It's just going to be a painful few weeks while he heals up." He didn't give any more details about McGee's injury as they lined up the transmission and got the bolts in place. As Tony watched, Gibbs replaced the rear support and the crossmember before tightening the bolts.

"So, why are you fixing the car instead of some mechanic?" Tony didn't have a clue what the next steps were as he watched Gibbs attach the shift linkage and the speedometer cable before scooting backwards to attach the drive line and the U-joint.

Gibbs hid his smile as Tony tried so hard to not look interested in what he was doing. "Do you really think this car is worth paying a mechanic to fix? McGee was planning on doing most of the work, he just didn't have the tools or a place to work." Once the U-joint was secure, Gibbs double checked that everything was secure before he started to work on reattaching the electrical connections.

"Probie knows how to work on a car? There's no hard drive in it."

This time Gibbs did laugh. "He and his dad have kept this thing running for years. How soon before your football game starts?"

Tony waved away the concern. "Nah, don't worry about it. How'd you learn to fix up cars like this?" He shifted around so he could sit cross-legged on the floor to watch Gibbs work.

"My old man taught me. Said a man that knew his way around an engine could always find work." Satisfied with the transmission, Gibbs took the cap off and then scooted a pan under the radiator. He leaned back down and turned the plug to drain it as he prepared to change the hoses.

Alternating between watching Gibbs work and studying the grease under his nails, Tony sounded wistful. "The only thing my old man taught me about cars was which models attracted the hottest women. What else are you doing to his car?"

Gibbs watched him out of the corner of his eye. "Just some basic maintenance. Hoses, belts, put in fresh anti-freeze and I'm replacing the heater fan while I've got it torn apart. He hasn't had heat in this thing for two years."

"Why doesn't he just get a new car? He's not sentimental about this thing, is he?" Tony started scraping the grease out from under his nails and wiping it on a rag he found on the floor.

It was tempting, but Gibbs wanted him to step it up with Tim because he wanted to, not because he felt Gibbs was expecting him to. "Not my place to say, DiNozzo."

"You know what's going on with him." A tilt of the head was the only answer he got. Tony shrugged as he confessed what their plans had been for the young man.

Gibbs was more angry than he let on. "You wanted to get him drunk and then bully him into telling you all his secrets?"

Tony didn't pick up on the underlying anger. "You think I should just sit him down and ask him?"

"I think as senior agent, you should be aware enough and supportive enough of a new member of the team that he'd feel comfortable coming to you with a problem."

"But Boss..."

"He's no longer some lackey that you just use when you need him. He's now a member of this team and he deserves the benefits in addition to the work." Gibbs wasn't really done with the lecture, but he heard the distinctive sound of Ducky's Morgan pulling the the driveway. "Ducky's here to check on McGee. We'll move him upstairs while he's awake."

Tony couldn't help the flash of jealousy as he watched Gibbs gently wake McGee and then lift him into an upright position. Obviously dizzy, McGee leaned against Gibbs as he sat on the sofa while Ducky checked his blood pressure.

Gibbs shook his head and lifted McGee to his feet when Tony reached for the crutches leaning against the wall. Understanding the unspoken request, Tony draped Tim's other arm over his shoulder and the two of them guided him up the stairs, with Ducky following behind.

In the guest bedroom, DiNozzo watched in sick fascination as Ducky unwrapped the gauze from McGee's leg. Gibbs had never told him the details of the errand he'd sent McGee on yesterday, but DiNozzo's experience as a cop had shown him wounds like that before.

---NCIS---

Worried about both men by this point, Tony stayed and helped Gibbs finish the car that afternoon. Another round of heavy duty pain killers had McGee sleeping clear through dinner. The arrival of Faith Coleman didn't ease his concern when they sent him upstairs to sit with McGee so they could talk in private.

Faith looked as upset when she left as when she arrived, the only difference was the stack of papers she left with Gibbs. She didn't even notice Tony's brash attempt to flirt with her.

"Gibbs?"

The older man shook his head as he checked his watch, calculating the time it would be in the Gulf. "Not now, Tony, I need to run to headquarters for a few minutes. Can you stay here with McGee? If I'm not back in time, his next round of antibiotics is at seven and he needs to eat something with them."

"Sure, Boss. Is there something I can help with?"

"Thanks, Tony, but I need to take care of this personally."


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n- Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I'm posting now because I'll be back on the road in a few hours. Everything's thawing, so it should be better than my last trip.**

* * *

If the technicians of MTAC were surprised to see Agent Gibbs dressed so casually, they didn't react, nor did they think it was strange when he chased most of them out. The last technician quietly slipped out when the connection was established. Gibbs found himself facing a slightly older version of his agent.

"Lt. McGee? I'm Agent Gibbs with NCIS."

"Tim's boss? Is he all right? Did something happen to my brother, Agent Gibbs?"

The fact that Robert McGee's first concern was for his brother and not an assumption that he had done something wrong eased something in Gibbs' mind. "Let's talk about you first. More specifically, your divorce."

"My divorce from Sharon? I don't see what that has to do with NCIS, sir." Even over the international feed, the lieutenant's nervous tension was apparent.

Gibbs leaned into the camera, knowing his image was enlarging overseas. "When it affects your brother, it affects my team. When it affects my team, it becomes my business."

"What do you mean, it's affecting Timmy? Is Sharon hassling him somehow?"

He'd seen that confused expression on a younger version of that face many times, but he wasn't sure yet if he should buy it on the older version. "You were more than generous with your ex-wife. In fact, you gave her everything she asked for and she asked for a hell of a lot. Why no counter offer, why no fight about the settlement?"

"I wanted to make sure my kids were taken care of." It almost sounded reasonable if it weren't for the fact he wasn't looking at the camera.

"Bullshit!" The yell made the other man jump, which pleased Gibbs. He wanted him to sweat a little bit. "If you were stateside, you wouldn't have enough money to buy a bus pass. Now, why did you agree to it?"

Robert McGee wiped at his forehead before rubbing his hands on his pant legs. "I still don't see what this has to do with Timmy."

The childish nickname irked Gibbs. "Tim is not a child. In fact, he's man enough to step in and clean up your sorry mess."

"What?"

"The mortgage payments for your parent's home, the private nurse for your mother, how do you think your father is managing it right now?" Gibbs watched his reaction very closely.

"I don't know." Robert looked up at the ceiling before looking back into the camera. "Timmy said they needed help, but I just didn't have anything left to give them. You've obviously seen a copy of the divorce settlement papers."

"Your father is very grateful to both of his sons for the financial help while your mom's been sick."

"But, I just told you that... wait a minute, you mean Dad thinks I'm sending money? Why would he think that?

"Like I said, your brother is covering your sorry ass."

"But he doesn't have that kind of money, he hasn't been working long enough. He hasn't done something stupid to get the money, has he?"

"Stupid, you think your brother has done something stupid?" The microphone didn't need to pick up on anything to show how mad Gibbs was at that comment. "Your brother is practically killing himself working a second job because he is sending his entire federal paycheck to your dad so that your father will think you care about your family."

---NCIS---

"Hey, McGee, Boss said you needed to take your pills." Tim woke to the sight of Tony leaning over him. "He also said you need to eat something with them. There's some leftover Chinese food or some there's eggs in the fridge."

Knowing how the antibiotics affected his stomach, Tim opted for the mildest option as he rested his hand on his already queasy stomach. "Maybe some scrambled eggs?"

"I only know how to do fried eggs, McGee." Tony waited, recognizing the look on the younger man's face. "Don't think they'd sit too well?"

"Don't think I want anything too greasy." With help, he sat up and scooted back to lean against the headboard. "Scrambled eggs aren't exactly hard, Tony. Eggs and milk mixed together and use a lower temperature to cook them."

"Really?" Tony couldn't quite hide the eager look he had every time he had an opportunity to learn something new.

Unable to resist the look, Tim carefully explained every trick he'd learned from his mother about fixing scrambled eggs. Twenty minutes later, Tony was back upstairs with two plates piled high with eggs and toast. On his next trip he brought juice and Tim's pills.

---NCIS---

"All right, Lieutenant, It's time you tell me what in the hell you did." Arms crossed against his chest, Gibbs was in no mood for any more games. On the other side of the world, Robert McGee gave in, knowing he wasn't going to win this one.

"I broke my marriage vows."

"What else?" Gibbs was losing patience.

"What do you mean, what else?" Robert ran his hands through his short hair. "Isn't that bad enough?"

Gibbs couldn't help it, he started laughing. Leave it to a McGee to inflate the most common cause of divorce into something larger than treason. "Kid, do you think you're the only man that has ever screwed up his marriage?"

"In my family? Yes."

"Aww, hell." Gibbs knew enough about the family now to know that Robert was right. His divorce from the woman who'd claimed pregnancy the week he'd graduated from the Naval Academy was the first divorce the family had experienced. If Robert was anything like his younger brother, he'd have taken the collapse of the marriage as a personal failure and a slap on the family's honor.

Dennis McGee was too far away, too overwhelmed with the care of his dying wife, to be the fatherly voice of reason Robert needed right now. Gibbs laughed silently to himself, for a man who'd sworn off fatherhood, his brood was rapidly growing. "Do you think your ex is a total innocent in all this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe she was faithful to you?" Even a McGee could see the question was rhetorical and Robert hung his head as he waited for the rest of the news. Gibbs finally laid it all out for him. "She was having an affair with your lawyer, kid. Why else do you think he was so willing to hang you out to dry?"

"Damn it, I should have known. What do I do now, sir?" It was easy to tell the man was as embarrassed by being duped as he was about his own infidelity.

"You let me handle it, son. I'll take care of everything."

---NCIS---

"So how come you know so much about cooking, McGee?" Tony was trying to keep up a steady stream of questions to keep the other man's attention off his nausea.

Tim shrugged as he shifted on the bed. "My sister was too young to learn at the time, and my brother had football practice every day after school. Dad was convinced that the smoke detector was a great oven timer. The base fire department was glad when I took over the cooking."

DiNozzo shared the chuckle with his young partner, but he didn't give him time to finish the story. "So your mom was too liberated to be chained to the kitchen?" He knew he'd screwed up the second the words left his mouth.

"I'm pretty tired, Tony, okay?" Tim rolled away to face the wall and closed his eyes, ending the conversation.

---NCIS---

Soon after Gibbs' arrival home, Tony made his escape and called Kate to meet him at a nearby bar. By the time he arrived, Kate had already ordered their first round of drinks.

"So, what's going on?" Kate didn't even wait until he was in the booth before she was pestering him with questions. "Have you figured out what McGee's up to that's got Gibbs all in a dander?"

"Nope, but he managed to get himself shot."

"What?"

Tony downed half of his beer before he answered Kate's question. "Remember that errand Gibbs sent him on? Guess it happened then. He took one in the leg. Gibbs must feel pretty guilty about it because he's fixing up McGee's car for him."

"Why isn't there an investigation? If McGee was shot, they can't just cover it up." Kate knew that they should have been called in the second shots had been fired. No matter how much Gibbs flaunted regulations, she couldn't imagine he'd cover up a shooting. "What has Tim gotten himself into that Gibbs would help him break regulations like that?"

By now Tony was getting his second beer from the waitress. "Gibbs was the one that sent him out there. Damn it, Kate, I'm the senior agent; I've always had his back, and now I'm the wonder kid's nursemaid while Gibbs goes off with our favorite JAG lawyer?"

"Lt Cmdr. Coleman is involved? If you were alone with McGee, did you get him to tell you anything?"

Tony slouched down in the booth. "I tried to joke around with him. You know, try to get him to loosen up a little bit. It was going pretty good until I asked him about his mother and he just shut down on me."


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n - Enjoy, I am back in town, and should be for a while. Pipes have thawed, now to repair the broken ones. Thanks for all the great reviews, they do make my day.**

* * *

"Good morning, Gibbs." Faith Coleman stood in front of his desk, her hands on her hips.

He hoped she would have good news for him. "Is it?" Without giving her time to answer, he stood and escorted her to his office. When the elevator door closed behind them, Tony and Kate looked at each other.

"What was that all about?"

"It's got to be something to do with McGee, Kate."

Inside the elevator, Gibbs threw the emergency stop. "Talk to me."

Faith came straight to the point. "When faced with the possibility of being disbarred, he folded pretty quickly. Sharon signed a new settlement arrangement this morning and the returned funds will be in an account for Robert by the end of the day." She gave that smile that always reminded Gibbs of a wolf. "Some days I really love my job."

It had surprised Gibbs at the time how quickly she had agreed to his plan. "You're not uncomfortable with blackmailing him?"

Faith thought about a quote from the movie she'd seen a few weeks earlier. "It wasn't blackmail, it was aggressive negotiations. Besides, do you really think a scumbag like him is clean in the rest of his dealings? Believe me, I found plenty of dirt. As soon as the funds clear, I'll nail him on one of his other stunts." She reached around Gibbs and turned the elevator back on. "After all, a girl needs a hobby. By the way, when's McGee coming back to work?"

The young man's recovery had been slow but steady. Gibbs refused to think about how quiet the house had been since McGee moved back to his apartment after a week recovering at Gibbs'. "Desk duty starting today. Ducky is checking him over, downstairs." He rode the elevator down to the main level with her, intending to continue down to the basement.

---NCIS---

Ducky's approval to return to work, even on a limited basis, should have thrilled the younger man. When it didn't, Gibbs became concerned as they headed upstairs.

"You okay?" Gibbs threw the emergency stop as he took a look at his youngest agent's face.

McGee shrugged as he leaned against the elevator wall. "Just got off the phone with my dad. Mom's home from the hospital again."

Gibbs knew she had another two weeks of chemotherapy scheduled. "Why the change?" He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but hoped he was wrong.

"She's so weak, it's doing more harm than good. They met with the doctors, there's nothing more they can do, it's... it's time, you know?"

He did know. The family had made the decision that when the treatments were only prolonging Maggie's death instead of adding to her life, they would stop. He reached out and grasped Tim's shoulders, offering his support. "How much longer?"

"Couple of months at the most. She wants one last Christmas with all of us there. I tried to tell him how hard that is going to be, but..."

He could see the heartbreak so clearly on the young man's face. "I'll take care of it, Tim."

"Boss?"

"Director Morrow and I have already discussed it. All that's left is to put the start date on the paperwork. You have to be in court tomorrow morning, let's plan on getting you on the road as soon as you're done testifying, all right?"

Gratefully, Tim nodded, staring at the floor as he blinked back tears. Gibbs pretended to not notice his breakdown.

"You go read through the case files on your desk while I go upstairs."

After McGee exited the elevator at the squad room, Gibbs continued up one more floor. Once there, he ducked into a conference room as he scrolled through his speed dial, selecting a number to call. "Dennis, it's Jethro Gibbs. How are you, how is Maggie?" When the phone call was finished, he continued on to Director Morrow's office.

---NCIS---

Tony watched McGee limp to his desk and sit down. He had been able to lose the crutches a few day ago, but it was apparent that his leg was still stiff and sore. Tony had done some checking and learned that McGee's physical therapy at the hospital was done, but he still had exercises to do at home. What he had not been able to discover was what case he'd been injured on in the first place. While ZNN reported on the heavy blizzards expected to hit the area soon, Tony reviewed his own files over the next hour as he debated and abandoned various plans to learn the truth. Before he could come up with an excuse to pry, Gibbs came back downstairs and went straight to McGee.

Gibbs leaned over McGee's desk so that he could whisper directly into Tim's ear, much to the dismay of the two agents trying to eavesdrop. "Morrow already gotten your brother on a flight out. He'll arrive at your parent's house about the same time you get there."

Turning so that his body blocked their view of their partner, Gibbs barked his orders out to them. "DiNozzo, you and Kate go out and re-interview all the witnesses in the Harris case."

"The Harris case?" Kate looked at Gibbs and started to argue, but Tony tugged on her arm to get her moving.

Gibbs held his position until they had left in the elevator, giving Tim a few moments to compose himself before dragging a chair over to sit next to McGee. "How much work do you have to finish before you can leave?"

The nice thing about being laid up was that he'd gotten quite a bit of work done for his other job. The large job he'd expected to take until after the first of the year was done, and the smaller job was nearly finished. "I'll be able to finish easily tonight, two, maybe three hours and it'll be done."

"Good." Gibbs wanted him well rested and on the road as soon as possible, plus he had one more trick up his sleeve. "Since this is your first day back, I want you to go home by 1500. Be all packed and drive to headquarters in the morning, so you can leave straight from here. With any luck, you'll beat that snowstorm they're expecting. Now, I want you to be honest with me, is your leg up to driving that far?"

"Once I'm on the freeway, I shouldn't have to shift very often so I should be okay."

Gibbs wasn't totally convinced, but he let it drop for now.

---NCIS---

The Harris case was a cold case, and the witnesses had no new memories to help their search. After what felt like a wasted morning they returned to their desks, bringing lunch back for Gibbs and McGee. Neither was surprised when Gibbs tossed a twenty at Tony and told McGee not to worry about it.

Kate sat down at her desk with her Cobb salad and pulled up her email to read while she ate. Skimming through her inbox, she spotted one from the HR department. Clicking on it, she started muttering under her breath at the notification that her vacation request had been denied. This close to the start of her vacation she had been convinced she would be given the time off.

"What's wrong?" Tony heard her and leaned over to find out what was wrong.

Kate shook her head as she tried to reign in her temper. "My vacation got canceled. I can't believe they'd do that two days before I was supposed to leave. Now what am I supposed to do?"

"It happens, Kate. You did make sure your tickets were refundable, right?" Tony tried to be sympathetic, but not being with family for Christmas wasn't a downer in his world.

"Yeah, sure I did, but that's not the point." As Kate was trying to explain to Tony why she was looking forward to spending the holidays in her hometown, Gloria from Human Resources walked past her. She glared at the woman in anger at first, and then in shock, as she stopped in front of McGee's desk.

"Agent McGee? If you would just sign these forms, your leave will be official. Agent Gibbs tells us you will be leaving tomorrow afternoon, is that right?"

"Yes, ma'am." He looked a bit embarrassed as he signed the paperwork while Kate and Tony stared at him.

Kate continued to glare at McGee as her anger built. Gibbs watched, but didn't say anything while McGee kept his head down and continued to work through the files he was finishing on his desk. Tony felt like he was watching a three-way tennis match as he watched the three of them.

When Kate finally slammed her hands down on her desk and stood, Gibbs also stood to head her off. As he herded her towards the elevator, he watched DiNozzo. Tony waited until they were almost to the elevator before he stood, but Gibbs was ready for him. "DiNozzo, sit down. McGee, go home." He waited until Tim was in the back elevator before taking Kate into the main elevator.

The elevator was barely moving before Kate hit the emergency stop. "It's not fair, Gibbs. I put in for this vacation before McGee even joined the team. Why does he get a Christmas vacation and I don't?"

Tired of the bickering and understanding why McGee never came out and said what was wrong, Gibbs reached out and turned the elevator back on. "He's not going on vacation, Kate. If you had spent a little more time helping him adjust to being here, you'd know where he was going." Gibbs was out the door the minute the elevator stopped on their floor, not slowing down until he was standing in front of Tony's desk. Kate was only a few steps behind him. She'd never had Gibbs that mad at her without knowing the reason and it bothered her more than she would have thought possible.

"Gibbs, I don't understand."

"Listen up you two." This was the pissed Gunny Sergeant voice and they both unconsciously came to attention. "McGee has to testify at a pretrial hearing tomorrow morning. You will both be there, no questions asked."

After one more glare, Gibbs stormed off for coffee. The district attorney had warned McGee that the suspect of the cybercafe robbery was claiming that McGee's presence was an indication of a federal sting and his rights had been violated. To prove that the young man was there in the middle of the night of his own volition, he was going to have to explain in court about the second job and the reasons for it. He almost felt bad for blindsiding them with the truth, but they'd had ample time to gain Tim's trust.


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n - I've been on fish rescue duty already this morning. My son-in-law added a new fish to their tank and it likes to jump into the filter. It's probably a good thing he's under warranty. (the fish, not the son-in-law.)**

* * *

Gibbs sent McGee down to warm up the sedan, which surprised him, but he'd learned not to question the boss. Once McGee was out of the room, Gibbs went through his desk and found the Datsun keys. Jerry, one of the Yard mechanics, came in and Gibbs tossed him the keys. "Did you get them?"

Jerry grinned at him. "You bet. Four good tires and new chains for all four wheels. Considering how bad the snow's supposed to get today, I'll go ahead and chain it up for him."

"Thanks, Jerry. With his leg, he doesn't need to be kneeling in the snow. You'll put it back in the same parking space?" Gibbs knew McGee would fuss about him spending the money on new tires for the car so he hoped the kid would be in such a hurry and so happy the chains were already on that he wouldn't notice.

"Sure thing, Gibbs." Jerry didn't mind coming in an hour early to help the kid. Of all the agents, McGee actually went out of his way to keep the agency cars clean and damage free. He'd even hosed off the bird droppings before returning a car a few weeks ago.

As soon as Jerry left, Gibbs turned to his remaining agents. "I expect the two of you to be in the courtroom for him today. Take a separate car, court starts at ten in room eighteen." He didn't give them time to argue before he left. DiNozzo was on the computer the second the elevator doors closed.

"What is the court case, Tony?" Kate came up behind Tony and leaned over him to look at the screen also.

Tony swore under his breath and opened another window to pull up more details. "It was an armed robbery at a twenty-four hour cybercafe. McGee made the arrest." Reading the metro report he saw the date. "Damn it, Kate, I was telling Gibbs that McGee didn't have money trouble because he bought a new modem."

"So?" He was scrolling through the file too fast for her to read all the details, except to see that Agent Gibbs had requested copies of everything be sent to him.

"The robbery happened at two in the morning, Kate. McGee bought that modem a couple of days later."

"So he could play at home, that makes sense. Even though he's a federal agent, that must have been scary. Gibbs probably told him he couldn't be out like that." Kate's voice trailed off as she realized that Gibbs would not be acting this way if the kid had been screwing around on his own time. "No, there's got to be something more than that."

Tony looked at the time as he stood and grabbed his coat. "Whatever it is, we're gonna find out pretty quick." With the mood the boss had been in, neither one of them were willing to risk being late to court that day.

---NCIS---

Gibbs didn't go downstairs like his agents assumed. Instead, he went up to MTAC to talk with Robert McGee, who was on a thirty minute layover in England. Robert looked tired and worried, much like his brother did, downstairs.

"Agent Gibbs, I was told that I have you to thank for this quick ride home. I can't tell you how much it means to me."

"My director is the one that pulled the strings, but I'll pass the word along. I do have another bit of news for you." Gibbs watched closely as he spoke, waiting to see what the reaction would be. "Your ex and her lawyer boyfriend have agreed to a more realistic settlement and have given back the money they improperly took from you. It's in an account waiting for you."

"Wow, really? Wow." Robert's eyes were suspiciously bright as he blinked. "That's amazing, thank you Agent Gibbs. I promise you that I'll use it to help my family, starting with Timmy. I'll make sure he gets back every dime I owe him, sir. I give you my word."

Gibbs nodded slowly, satisfied with the honest reaction he saw. "I'm glad to hear that. Your brother's a good man."

Behind Robert, Gibbs could see activity as the plane prepared to reload. Robert turned and waved as he picked up his pack. "Thank you, Agent Gibbs. Thank you for everything, especially for looking out for Timmy. I can see why he respects you so much."

---NCIS---

Tim had the car running, but scooted over when Gibbs came up to the drivers side. Once the older man had the door closed, he pulled away from the building. Since the snow started sometime before daybreak, there was already a noticeable accumulation on the roads. Gibbs watched the less experienced drivers as he questioned McGee. "You going to be all right driving home in this snow?"

"I'll be fine, Boss. It's main roads most of the way, so they should be plowed."

Gibbs spared him a quick glance before returning his attention to the roads. "Just be careful. You won't do your family any good if you end up in a ditch someplace."

"I know, Boss. I'll be careful." McGee bit back a smile, he'd had almost the same exact conversation with his father last night. Gibbs wasn't quite through, yet.

"The guys in the garage are going to put the chains on your car while we're in court. The way it's coming down, you're definitely going to need them this afternoon."

Tim fought to keep his voice steady as he answered. He'd been so grateful Gibbs hadn't noticed the condition of his tires when he'd worked on the clutch, now he just hoped the guys in the garage didn't say anything to him about them. "Thanks, Boss, but they really don't have to do that."

"Do you want to explain that to Ducky?" As they slowed to a stop, Gibbs glanced over at him again. The kid has a slightly panicked look on his face. "I didn't think so. Your brother's flight just left England, so he's still on schedule to arrive home about the same time as you." Gibbs pulled into the parking garage at the courthouse. "Let's get this done so we can get you on the road, McGee."

---NCIS---

Kate and Tony managed to find seats in the corner of the viewers gallery that did not put them in McGee's line of sight as he stared at Gibbs. They listened as the District Attorney started asking McGee why he was in the cybercafe the night it was robbed.

"Please state your title and name for the record, sir."

McGee cleared his throat and leaned slightly closer to the microphone. "Special Agent Timothy McGee."

"And your agency and team?"

"NCIS, that's Naval Criminal Investigative Service. I'm a member of the Major Crime Response Team."

"Tell us, why were you at the Market Street Cybercafe on the night in question?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs could see Tony's interest in the question, while Kate was also curious. He dismissed them for now as he turned his attention back to Tim. McGee looked at Gibbs for a split second before returning his full attention to his questioner. "At the time I didn't have internet service at my apartment. I was there to upload some documents onto a webpage I was working on."

Knowing the line of suspicion the defense attorney wanted to throw on McGee, the DA focused on his reasons. "Was this for a case for your agency?"

"No, sir, it was for my second job. I develop websites for clients."

"At two in the morning?"

"I had been on stakeout until after midnight that night."

"Was your stakeout at the cybercafe that was robbed?"

McGee wasn't surprised by the questions, they had reviewed them over the phone earlier that morning. "No, sir, we were tracking stolen weapons down on the docks."

District Attorney Ryan just had one more question before he allowed the defense attorney to make a fool of himself. "What were your thoughts when you saw the defendant that night?"

"When he pulled a gun and announced that it was a stick-up, my first thought was that that was a cheesier movie quote than I usually hear from my partner." Tim had to stop as the court gallery laughed, including his unseen partners in the back. When the judge had them back under control, he continued. "My second thought was that I really didn't need the added paperwork."

There was more laughter while the DA turned it over to the defense attorney. Considered a shark even among other defense attorneys, Harlan Jackson knew that if he couldn't break this agent's image his client might as well plead guilty. "So, Agent McGee, do you play the ponies?"

"Play the ponies?" For a moment, he looked puzzled, then his face cleared as he nodded. "You mean gamble. No, sir, I don't gamble."

In his chair, Gibbs shifted slightly to rest his hand over his face to hide his smile. The kid looked like an eager boy scout sitting there and the defense attorney didn't have a clue how every woman in the place wanted to mother his boy at that moment.

Jackson held out a picture, convinced it would be enough to shut down the eager agent. "Then explain to the court why you were meeting with the owners of the local race track last month." Much to his chagrin, McGee didn't look worried in the slightest.

"That's Mr. Harper, he wanted the track's web presence to be more family friendly."

"Family friendly?"

"Yes, sir. I wrote the coding for several trivia games on the site. "I've been to his office twice; once to discuss what he wanted the site to look like and once to show him the finished product. We met one additional time at a restaurant when he paid me for my work."

"You're telling me that you didn't lay down one bet while you were there?"

"That's correct, sir."

"You never gamble?"

"I ride in a car with my boss, some people would call that gambling."

There were enough people in the courtroom who knew of Gibbs and his driving style. The lawyer continued on, shouting over the laughter. "So then tell the court, Agent McGee, why a federal agent such as yourself needs the income from two jobs? What do you do with all that money and does your director know what you've been up to?"

Tim knew this was coming, but it didn't make it any easier. "Both my direct supervisor and the agency director know about my extra job and that I am using the money to help my family back home."

Harlan Jackson never knew when to quit. "Your family? Why do they need so much money from you?"

"My mother has end stage cancer. There's a great deal that insurance doesn't cover, and my father has had to take an unpaid leave from his job to care for her." Tim took a deep breath and looked at Gibbs briefly before telling the rest. "My entire paycheck from the agency goes to help them and I'm living off of what I make on my second job, so yes, sir, I was really at the cybercafe at two in the morning working on my own project so I could make my rent payment that month."

By now the courtroom was in stunned silence, but no corner was quieter than the one where two NCIS agents were sitting. Jackson finally realized he was only doing damage to his client's case and ended his questioning abruptly. The District Attorney used the option to redirect and hammered the point home.

"Agent McGee, what happens after the court releases you?"

"I'm..." His voice broke and he stopped to clear his throat. "I've been granted emergency leave to return home. My mother's final wish is to have the entire family home for one last Christmas. My boss and my director have arranged for my brother to be flown home from the Middle East and I'm driving home as soon as the Court no longer needs me here in DC.

"Thank you, Agent McGee. No further questions."


	10. Chapter 10

**a/n - a short chapter today, but that's the way it worked out. Still on fish duty, I can hear him trying to get into the filter. At least I don't have to do the nighttime feeding. You have to hold a flashlight so it shines on the food; otherwise they can't find it. Apparently the new tank light comes this weekend. They'd better not complain about my dog being spoiled after this.**

After a promise that it would take no longer than thirty minutes, Tim left to meet with the District Attorney, leaving only Tony and Kate to stand with Gibbs in the hallway after court was dismissed.

Kate wiped at her eyes, trying to not draw attention to her tears in the crowded hallway. "That's why he's going home for Christmas?"

"How long does she have?" Tony knew he had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, but he'd never felt like such a heel as he did at that moment.

Gibbs' voice was rough, giving them an idea of how much this was also affecting the other man. "The only thing keeping her alive is her refusal to die before Christmas."

"You've known for a while." Tony thought back to the day he helped Gibbs with Tim's car. "You made sure his car was in shape to drive home when it was time."

"He was just going to limp the damn thing home and then hitchhike the rest of the way if it gave out." Gibbs shook his head in frustration. "His mother's been fighting cancer for more than half of his life, I sure the hell wasn't going to let him face her last few hours sitting on the side of the road with his thumb out."

"Is it roadworthy?" The two men turned to face Kate as she asked the hard questions. "I know you've worked on his car and Jerry is putting better tires on it, but it's still an old car and the snow is getting really bad out there. What if he drove my car? At least it's front wheel drive."

"Believe me, I tried to loan him a better car. The kid's too damn stubborn about accepting help. I had to agree to let him work off what I did on his car. Any help we give him has to be subtle."

"Subtle? We can do subtle, right Kate?" Grinning over whatever plan he was hatching, Tony waved goodbye to his boss and dragged Kate out of the building with him.

---NCIS---

When Gibbs and McGee arrived back in the bullpen, Kate and Tony were at their desks, busily working on paperwork. Tony looked up at Tim with a carefully neutral expression on his face. "Court go okay, Probie?"

"Sure, it was fine, Tony." McGee barely gave him a glance as he gathered his stuff and didn't notice the grin and nod he gave Gibbs.

Gibbs stood as McGee shouldered his backpack. "Have you got everything, Tim?"

"I'm set, Boss."

"Drive carefully, it's really starting to come down out there." After the journey to get to this point, Gibbs was strangely reluctant to let the young man go the rest of the way alone.

Kate came over and kissed his cheek. "Give your sister a hug for me, okay? Even if her room is a mess." She wound a new scarf around his neck before letting her hands trail down his arms, casually sliding one hand into his coat pocket. "Stay warm."

Tony didn't stand, but he did lean over his desk to get McGee's attention. "Hey, call before you get on the I-495. We'll have updated road conditions for you." McGee blinked in surprise and Tony repeated himself forcefully. "I'm serious, McGee. If you're going to be driving in the worst snowstorm of the year, at least let us help you get home safe. I don't want to break in a new Probie come January."

"Yeah, sure, Tony." McGee didn't know what was going on, but it wasn't worth the effort to argue with the senior agent when he was like this. After another hug from Kate and a shoulder squeeze from Gibbs, Tim was in the elevator.

Once the steel doors closed, Gibbs moved to the window overlooking where McGee was parked, the remaining team members at his heels. All three of them were staring at the sight in shock at the one plowed parking lot when Director Morrow came up behind them. "I hope you don't mind, Gibbs. I took the liberty of calling in a favor with the Yard Commander. He'll have a clear path to the main road."

"Thank you, sir."

Morrow nodded to Gibbs before turning his attention to DiNozzo. "Your access and use of MTAC has been approved, Agent DiNozzo. Make sure our boy gets home safe and sound."

"Yes, sir."

Before Gibbs could ask what they were up to, his phone rang. Seeing McGee bending down to look at his tires, phone in hand, he had a pretty good idea what the call was about. "Hey, McGee, problem?"

_Boss, I can't accept this, it's too much. You've already done so much for me and..._

"McGee!" Once he had the younger man's attention, Gibbs let his voice return to normal volume. "We can work something out after you get back. In the meantime, consider it a Christmas present to me. It's one less thing I have to worry about while you're driving home today, alright?"

_Thanks Boss._

As soon as the small car left the parking lot, Tony and Kate headed straight for MTAC, Gibbs following behind them. The technicians already were tied in with the traffic cameras in the area. Being in the nation's capitol had its advantages, one of which was the aggressive road crews that kept the streets plowed as much as possible. Traffic was light and they were able to watch the green Datsun as it crossed the city. Between the new snow tires and the chains, McGee was able to easily keep the car under control. Unfortunately, they all knew that his good fortune would only hold out until the city limits were reached. Once he was out on the highway with the drifting, windswept snow, it would be a different story entirely.

McGee's first major hurdle would be the bridge over the Potomac River on the I-66. Plowing had reduced the amount of snow, but the traffic combined with the cold air under the roadway of the bridge had turned the remaining snow into ice at least two inches thick, with areas between the traffic lanes that were almost five inches deep. The current snowfall was enough to make the danger almost impossible to see, as the struggling drivers made apparent.

As they watched McGee enter the bridge, several cars coming the other direction started sliding. One of the out of control cars began spinning on the ice, missing Tim's car by mere inches. Kate let out a scream partially muffled by the hands she had over her mouth as Tony started pacing. Nobody breathed easy until he was safely on the other side of the bridge and Gibbs was still catching his breath when his phone rang.

_Boss, there was just an accident..._

"We saw it, McGee. Help is on the way. You keep going, they don't need any more cars on that bridge right now. Keep your attention on the road, but remember to call before you get on the I-495. You got that?"

_Got it, Boss._

Gibbs ignored the shaking of his hands as he closed his phone. Instead, he turned to DiNozzo and Todd. "What do you two have planned for him when he calls back?"


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n - Another short chapter, but again, this is what fits the flow of the story. Thanks, guys, your response to this story has been amazing. I might get the next chapter done in time for a double dip day, but no guarantees. The babies have been VERY busy this week and have kept Baba (Grandma) on her toes and I need to bake during naptime. Keep your fingers crossed.**

Even with traffic, it was normally a fifteen minute drive to the exchange where Tim was supposed to call them back. After the close call on the first bridge, they waited anxiously for Gibbs' phone to ring as they scanned the traffic cameras they were watching. Tony thought he saw a glimpse of the small car but the camera lenses were becoming coated with snow and ice. It was more than an hour before he called back.

_Hey, Boss._

"Tim." There was no mistaking the relief in the older man's voice, but no one was teasing about it. "Tim, I'm going to put you on speaker phone, all right?"

_Yeah, sure, who else is there?_

The fact that his rookie partner didn't expect him to be there, watching his back, making sure he got home all right, felt like a sucker punch to the senior agent, and it showed in his voice. Both Kate and Gibbs looked at him as he leaned over the phone now laid on control console. "Hey, Tim, Kate and I are both going to stick around until you get home safe. Now, the roads are still open, but they're getting worse by the minute. We want you to call in every half hour until you're in your parents' driveway."

_Tony, I appreciate it, but I can't run my phone battery down like that in case I get stuck someplace_.

Kate joined Tony and Gibbs next to the phone. "Tim, there's a car charger in your center console. That way you can keep your phone charged the whole way home. Gibbs promised your dad that we'd get you home safe and sound. Every thirty minutes, we expect a phone call."

_Wow. Thanks, guys._

Kate smiled as she realized that the relief she heard in his voice was a Christmas present in its own right. "Just stay safe, Tim."

Tony jumped back into the conversation. "Okay, kid, we're going to lay down some ground rules." He grinned at his boss as he imagined the younger man rolling his eyes at him. "First off, you don't let your car get below a half tank of gas. That way you can keep it running to stay warm if you get stuck. There's a gas card in your glove box; I expect it to be used. Consider it a Christmas gift for putting up with me."

Tag-teaming their young partner, Kate gave him the next rule. "If they close the roads down, or they become impassable, or if you get too tired to keep driving, we want you to get a motel room someplace and not try to sleep in your car."

_Kate..._

"She's not finished, McGee." Gibbs used his best 'he will be obeyed' voice on him. Kate grinned back at him as she continued to talk to Tim.

"As I was saying, we don't want you sleeping in your car if you can't make it home right away. It's too cold and it's too dangerous. There's a prepaid credit card in your right coat pocket. Use it for a room, or for food, whatever you need to get home safely. There's five hundred dollars loaded onto it, and we expect you to use it. If you get back here with more than ten bucks left on it, you're going to be in trouble, mister, so spend the rest of it on your family while you're there. Make sure your sister has a good winter coat, or something."

_Wow, you guys, I don't know what to say, how to thank you..._

"Don't say anything, kid. Just get home safe and that's all the thanks we need. This team is family. Maybe we weren't clear enough about it before, but we're saying it now." Tony's eyes were suspiciously bright in the dim lighting of MTAC. "No matter how much we tease and razz you, we should have made sure you knew you could come to us about anything. Now, you drive safe, and we will be waiting for your next call in thirty minutes."

_Got it, Tony, thirty minutes._

After the call disconnected, Gibbs tapped both of them on the back of the head. "You two did good, real good." Under most conditions, they would be happily preening over the praise, but both Tony and Kate were already making calls of their own.

Tony's call was to the person who was number nine on his speed dial. "Hey, Charlie, it's DiNozzo. Does your brother still work for the Maryland State Patrol? I need a favor for a friend that's driving home to see his dying mom... Yeah, in this weather... He just crossed into Maryland on the I-495, he'll be taking the spur onto the I-270... Thanks, man, I owe you big time."

Behind him, Kate used her old contacts from the Secret Service to get through to the dispatcher assigning routes to the snowplows along the corridor McGee would be traveling.

When the next call came in from McGee, they all marveled along with him at his amazing luck to get right behind a snowplow, and how well patrolled the highway was, considering the weather.


	12. Chapter 12

**a/n - as promised, the second half of the double dip. As I'm developing it right now, we should be back to normal sized chapters with the next posting.**

McGee had been on the road for over four hours when the Director called with a case. Tony and Kate stared at each other as Gibbs left to find out the details, both strangely reluctant to leave headquarters while McGee was still on the road. Gibbs looked troubled when he returned.

"Gear up you two, we've got a stolen truck full of toys to locate." Even as he spoke, Gibbs looked over at the screen. McGee was now past the traffic cameras so prevalent in the DC area, so they were monitoring weather and road reports.

"But, Gibbs, we can't just abandon Tim. He's not even out of Maryland yet, he's got hours more to go before he's home. He's counting on us."

Gibbs knew she was right. Traffic was crawling at a snail's pace on the I-270, even with the snowplows on that normally speedy stretch of road. The regular calls had become a lifeline for McGee as he inched along towards the interchange that would put him eventually on US-15. He'd lose the snowplow at that point, having passed the reach of Kate's influence. "For now, you stay here, Kate. DiNozzo and I will go to the scene and see what we can discover. You can start running searches from here and a BOLO as soon as we have more information. I'll get Ducky up here to help you. He knows everybody, maybe he's got some contacts in Pennsylvania that can help."

A quick call brought the Medical Examiner upstairs with his large address book of contacts. Kate watched in awe as he immediately called the coroner for Adams County and worked his magic. The plows had been down US-15 several hours previously, and were now on other roads, but the coroner was able to pull strings and the Troopers would be watching out for an ancient green Datsun.

---NCIS---

Riding with Gibbs as he manhandled the borrowed military transport, Tony wished he'd offered to stay on McGee duty instead of Kate. They arrived at the truck stop where the theft had occurred and met up with the representative from the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.

"Agent Gibbs, I'm Major Bryant. Thank you for getting here so quickly. There's a group of kids waiting for those toys and they're going to be mighty disappointed if we can't get them back." The major pulled his cap off and rubbed his head as he talked, obviously upset at the thought of the kids missing out of Christmas.

Gibbs wasn't about to let the kids suffer if he could stop it. "Walk us through exactly what happened here."

"I was getting a headache from driving the rig in all this snow, so we pulled in here for a quick break. My son was traveling with me, and I walked over to the convenience store to grab some aspirin and hot chocolate for the two of us."

"And where were you while your dad was doing that?" Tony looked at the kid. He was about fifteen or sixteen and looked slightly bored.

"Over there." The kid pointed at a video arcade attached to the truck stop. "I was playing a game and looked up to see the truck pulling out of the lot. I ran out just as it went around the corner, then I went looking for my dad."

"Which way?"

"Huh?"

Gibbs sighed and re-asked the question with more detail. "When the truck left, which way did it go?"

"Oh, that way." He pointed towards the westbound interchange. From that way, the truck could have gotten on one of four different freeways.

Sighing again, Gibbs took out his notebook. "Okay, Major, tell me what the truck looked like."

---NCIS---

"Hello, Timothy, how are you holding out?"

_Ducky?_

"Yes, my boy, I'm here with Caitlin while Jethro and Tony went to check on a stolen truck...

"Tim, how far have you gotten?" Kate wanted to keep them on track until they knew how much progress Tim had made on the trip home.

_Since my last call, I've gone eleven miles. There was a truck jackknifed on the road. Luckily my car is small enough that I was one of them able to squeeze past it on the shoulder._

He sounded stressed and tired. Kate nodded to Ducky to talk to him while she checked the map and the computer. Behind her, she could hear Ducky regale McGee with the details of the stolen truck along with the Marine Corps father and sullen teenager that were left behind.

Calculations made, Kate returned to the call. "Tim, by my calculations your should be just a few miles south of Heidlersburg. Does that sound about right?

_Yeah, I passed a sign for it a few minutes ago. Just to be safe, I'm going to stop for gas when I get there. The troopers back at the accident said that some of the stations were closing because of the weather._

Kate chewed on her bottom lip. Reporters were telling people to stay off the roads tonight because of the increasing snowfall. "How much further are you going tonight?"

_As far as I can, Kate. I've got to get home before... before it's too late. _

"After you hit Heidlersburg, you've got about thirteen miles to Dillsburg and after that, about another fifteen miles to Harrisburg. You've been on the road for over five hours and you're just a little more than a third of the way home."

_I know, Kate._

She saw her worry reflected back in Ducky's eyes. "Just be careful, Tim. You won't do your family any good if you kill yourself getting there."


	13. Chapter 13

**Hopefully, the site is done being weird. Chapter 12 was posted on Friday and didn't show up completely until Sunday. Umm, I'll warn you, this is a cliffhanger.**

McGee was just passing Dillsburg when he finally called. He was five minutes late and Kate was pacing in MTAC. "Tim, are you all right? You're late."

_Sorry, Kate, I was hoping to stop for a few minutes in Dillsburg._

"Why didn't you?" She sat down next to Ducky as they listened carefully to him. Under normal driving conditions, Tim would have been pulling into the family driveway about now, but in this blizzard, he had another twelve hour drive ahead of him at least.

_The on ramp is closed, so I wouldn't have been able to get back on the freeway. Some sort of accident. Any word on the stolen truck?_

"No, not yet. The local LEO's are too busy with the accidents out there to pay much attention to the BOLO we put out." At first she was going to scold him for worrying about a case right now, then she realized it probably kept his mind off the situation he was in.

_Does the Toys for Tots Foundation own the truck?_

"I don't know, does it matter?"

_It might. A lot of truck companies use GPS locators on their trucks. If the truck was loaned to them, it may have an onboard locator that they don't even know about._

"That's a great idea, I'll pass it along to Gibbs." Kate looked over at Ducky who was on another phone. He was nodding at her and she hoped it meant good news. "Hang on a minute, Tim, Ducky is checking something."

Ducky took the phone from Kate as soon as he hung up his cell. "Timothy, I just checked with a friend of mine in Harrisburg. If you take the second offramp into town, the road is passable. There is a fuel station right at the bottom of the offramp and a small dining establishment right next to it. I've already taken the liberty of ordering you a meal to go and it will be ready for you when you arrive. A snowplow driver will be starting his dinner break in about twenty minutes and if you time it right, you'll be able to follow him back onto the freeway and possibly all the way to the exit for I-81."

_Thanks, Ducky. If I can get in behind another plow I might get home yet._

"Just be careful, lad. I understand that the snow is getting worse the further north you go." He had barely gotten to know the young man, but he was already fond of Tim.

_It's the lake effect snow. They're predicting this year is going to be pretty bad. Has Kate called Gibbs yet?_

"She's on the phone right now. We will be waiting for your next call, Timothy."

---NCIS---

Gibbs moved off to find some privacy to take a phone call, leaving Tony with Major Bryant and his son. "Where were you headed with the load of toys, sir?"

"St. Mary's over in the Columbia Heights area. There's a dinner being held for all the families and then Santa is arriving to hand out toys from the truck. We're going to have a lot of disappointed children tonight if we don't find that truck." Bryant looked up at the cloudy sky overhead. "I can't believe this. I've spent every Christmas for the last seven years delivering toys. I've never lost a single toy, let alone an entire truckload."

Perhaps it was the knowledge that McGee was struggling to get home for his mother's last Christmas, but DiNozzo was hit hard by that statement. "We're going to do everything humanly possible to find that truck, sir. I give you my word."

Gibbs rejoined them as he was closing his phone. "Who owns the truck?"

"Well, the trailer is owned by the foundation, but the truck is on loan from Stiles-Harmon Trucking. Damn, I need to call them."

"Yes, we do need to call them." Gibbs was grinning, which was a surprise to DiNozzo considering the circumstances. "They're a big trucking company and according to McGee, big companies usually have a GPS tracker somewhere on their trucks."

"We can tie into their system, and find the truck? It's that simple? Way to go, Probie. If he's helping us, does that mean he made it home safe and sound?" DiNozzo was grinning now, too.

Gibbs smile faded as he answered. "Apparently, he's just now coming into Harrisburg."

"He's still got more than two hundred miles to go, Boss. He's not going to make it, is he?"

"He'll make it, he has to, Tony." Even Bryant and his son noticed the concern and worry in both men.

"You've got a man headed north in this weather?"

Gibbs gave a short nod. "He's trying to get home to see his mother one last time before she dies. Let's see if we can get your truck back for you. Then we can focus on getting him home."

---NCIS---

"What if Tim doesn't get to the diner in time to be able to follow the snowplow?" Kate was staring at the weather maps, trying to understand the arrows and curved lines.

Ducky didn't seem overly concerned that the plow would leave before McGee arrived. "Don't worry about it, my dear." When Kate didn't seem convinced, he let her in on a little secret. "The driver is going to wait for him. My friend in town has it all set up."

Kate bent down and kissed him on the cheek. "You're wonderful, Ducky."

"Thank you, my dear. Now, let's get back to work, shall we?" Ducky returned to his extensive list of contacts to find Tim's next guardian angel. Kate was watching in awe when Gibbs called back to give her the information about the tracking system in the truck.

---NCIS---

"Hey, I'm Tony." DiNozzo carefully watched the teen as Gibbs was on the phone with Kate. The young man didn't seem too interested in him, but he was polite.

"I'm Matthew, sir. Did you mean it?" He stared at Tony. "I mean about finding the truck. Did you mean it?"

"Yeah, we're going to do everything we can." Tony considered how he thought most teenage boys would feel about giving up their holidays every year for a charity. "It must be tough, spending your Christmas vacation handing out a bunch of toys every year."

Matthew shrugged at the question. "The first couple of days are kind of hard because I miss my friends, but then we get in the groove. I get to spend an entire week on the road with my dad, which is really cool. The stop here in Washington DC is the last one, so my mom always meets us and helps with the dinner." Matthew had a wistful look on his face. "To see those kids when we help hand out presents, there's nothing else quite like it. You should come with us, I mean, when you find the truck."

"Maybe, but first we need to find the truck. Is there anything else you can remember, maybe something that you didn't want your dad to know about?"

It was evident that something was eating at Matthew. He scuffed his shoe at the pavement before admitting what he had held back. "I'm not suppose to have my cell phone with me, but I've got it hidden in my jacket. I wasn't playing video games, I was around back, texting with my girlfriend. I told you the truth about what I saw, but if I'd called my dad instead of running over to find him, maybe they wouldn't have gotten away with the toys."

Tony couldn't remember being this young. "Does your dad even know you have a girlfriend?"

"No. Are you going to tell him?" The challenge was obvious.

"If you're doing something stupid with her, I'll kick your butt all the way back to Camp Pendleton. Is that understood?" Tony tried to look serious, but the smirk took the edge of his expression.

---NCIS---

"Abby, thanks for coming back in." Kate smiled and accepted the hug as Abby swept into MTAC. "We need you to help track the GPS for a truck of toys that was stolen from the Marines."

"The Toys for Tots program? I love that group, they do so much for the kids. What kind of lowlife would steal toys from them? Abby was instantly furious. Every month she bought toys and set them aside for the annual toy drive at the Yard. This year she had dragged McGee into helping her deliver all the toys when the big Marine Corps truck arrived. "Why isn't McGee tracking it down, where is he?"

Kate looked to Ducky for help. They hadn't meant to leave Abby out of the loop, but she and Tony had rushed to complete their plans after they found out the truth about McGee's family. Tracking Abby down while she was giving a presentation at Quantico was something they hadn't had the time to do.

Ducky kindly rescued Kate from Abby and took the Goth off to the side to bring her up current with McGee's situation. Abby ranted and raved for a few minutes until she realized how much they had gotten done for her friend in a very short amount of time. By the time Tim called from behind the snowplow, she was calm enough to sort through various ideas and work with him to come up with a plan to track the stolen truck.

---NCIS---

After Mrs Bryant picked up her husband and son, Gibbs and Tony got back in their sedan to start tracking down the truck filled with toys. "What have we got, Boss?" Tony hadn't heard the latest plans from Gibbs' phone call to headquarters.

The car fishtailed slightly as Gibbs pulled out of the parking lot. "According to McGee, that type of GPS sends a signal out every time the truck passes a hotspot, whatever the heck that is. The last signal was about fifteen miles north of here, so that's where we start."

Tony checked his seatbelt as he struggled to not tell Gibbs what a hotspot was. The older man didn't care about wireless signals and the younger one got a flash of what it must be like for McGee to have all this knowledge his team didn't understand. Hopefully the thieves would stay near somebody's unsecured Wi-Fi and they could catch up to them pretty quick. Or at least before they decided to open a corner discount store someplace.

Abby monitored the truck's signal, the blips they received each time it passed within range of a hotspot were translated to a point on the map by Kate and relayed to Tony. The hours passed as Gibbs plowed through the increasingly impassable roads while Tony and Kate debated different destinations for the wayward truck. Eventually they agreed that the truck was headed for a row of abandoned warehouses near the Anacostia River. Dispatch sent several Metro black and white units to meet up with them to start searching on foot.

---NCIS---

"See anything, DiNozzo?" Gibbs let the car roll down the slight downhill slope as they approached the first of the seven warehouses.

Tony squinted in the rapidly dimming light. The snow was coming down heavier, but it looked like the indent of tire tracks between the first two buildings. "I think so, take a look over there, Boss." He pointed at what he was looking at. Gibbs didn't respond except for a grunt, and turned the car that direction. Once they were on the back side of the buildings, the tire tracks were more apparent.

The large semi was able to get through the snowdrifts between the buildings, but by the third one, the sedan was hopelessly stuck. Abandoning the vehicle, the two men continued on, walking in the rut left by the truck.

Tony listened to Kate over the phone before relaying the message. "Boss, Kate says that Metro is about five minutes out. They've got four wheel drive, so they should get here okay."

Gibbs peered around the corner. "Have Kate tell them that the suspects are in warehouse five and are still with the truck"

He repeated the information to Kate and then settled in next to Gibbs to wait. He checked his watch one last time, it was less than an hour before the dinner was going to start for all those children whose only Christmas was sitting in that stolen truck.

---NCIS---

Meanwhile, just north of the border between Pennsylvania and New York, an overweight truck and trailer began to slide on the snowy road. Behind it, a small green car managed to stop in time. The SUV that was third in line was unable to stop and rear-ended the small Datsun, sending it forward into the path of the truck and trailer as it slid off the road, taking the car with it.


	14. Chapter 14

**a/n - Apparently that was a bad place to leave it? Only a few chapters left.**

The snow was biting cold as they knelt at the corner of the warehouse, listening to the activity going on inside. Two men wearing heavy coats, and obviously the truck thieves, were arguing with several more men that apparently been waiting at the warehouse for them.

"That's the truck you grabbed? Are you an idiot?" The speaker was expensively dressed, even if his style was rather flamboyant, topped off by a gold tooth.

"Hey man, a truck's a truck. What's the big deal?"

Snazzy dresser started poking the other man in the chest. "Did you even look at the trailer? That's a charity trailer, the media's gonna be all over it. You were suppose to grab something that wasn't going to attract a lot of attention on the road. I'm not paying you to be an idiot."

"Ah, come on, Sal, nobody's gonna care if some whiny brats don't get their toys for Christmas. The reporters are too busy talking about the weather to bother about one stolen truck. We can dump the load, make a few bucks off of it, and still get our merchandise out of the state before any stupid cops figure out what's going on." The shorter of the two thieves, who DiNozzo had already dubbed Manny, was following his boss through the building. Stacks of boxes were in the center of the warehouse, waiting for transportation.

The other thief, the one DiNozzo was calling Dutch, seemed to also be in agreement. "It had full tanks of diesel, boss, and even the trailer was chained up. Most of the rigs at the truck stop were just waiting out the storm."

Four Metro cops came up behind Gibbs and DiNozzo in time to hear the tail end of the argument between the men. They both recognized Detective Wilson from a joint case a few months earlier. Wilson leaned over to whisper in Gibbs' ear, with DiNozzo listening from the other side.

"Gold Tooth is Salvador Marrone, a drug dealer we've been after for months. Looks like his boys snagged your truck after we cut off his normal transportation. Joint bust?"

Gibbs shook his head without looking away from the scene in the warehouse. "Nope, I just want my truck and cargo back. The kids are waiting for Santa to show up with those toys. You can have the drug dealers."

Wilson couldn't think of a better Christmas present than to arrest Marrone while he was sitting on what looked to be hundreds of pounds of cocaine. The theft of the truck load of toys was small change in comparison. "Okay, let's do it."

Just as the six armed men prepared to storm the building, Dutch opened his mouth for one last time, in support of his partner in crime. "Yeah, Sal, it's snowing too hard for some Marine to show up and want his truck back."

DiNozzo groaned at the look on Gibbs' face as the older man pulled his gun and announced his presence.

"Then you've obviously never met a Marine. NCIS, drop your weapons and put your hands in the air."

"I'd do what he said, guys." Tony grinned as he stood next to his boss. "It's late and it's cold and he'd rather just shoot all of you than do the paperwork for an arrest." Behind them, the four cops stayed quiet and enjoyed the show.

The Gunny Sergeant yell, as it was known aboard the Yard, had the desired effect on Manny and Dutch, but Sal and his two bodyguards were too arrogant to know what they were up against.

"Yeah, you and what army?"

"Not Army, Marine Corps." When the two bodyguards both pulled their guns, Gibbs was ready. Before DiNozzo could draw down on either one, or the Metro cops could get their weapons up, Gibbs dropped both thugs with matching shots to the chest.

Sal froze when his two bodyguards dropped, one on each side of him. When he looked up, he was staring down the barrel of Gibbs' still smoking SIG Sauer. "Don't shoot me." The man wanted in three states on charges of drug manufacturing and distribution didn't look so tough as he dropped to his knees and put his hands on his head without being told.

By now, Wilson was openly laughing as he walked up and snapped the handcuffs on Marrone. "Gibbs, you can come along on any bust of mine."

---NCIS---

On an icy highway in New York state, the churned up snow was still settling. The truck and trailer lay in a tangled heap, the back end of the trailer supported by a large rock. Wedged under the trailer, up against the boulder a small car was barely visible, becoming less and less visible as the snow continued to fall. Up on the road, the elderly driver of the SUV clutched at his chest before slumping down against the steering wheel. He was dead before the first rescue vehicle arrived.

---NCIS---

"Can I take the truck now?" Gibbs had already called Major Bryant and promised to personally deliver the truck and its full trailer to St. Mary's, where the holiday dinner was in full swing.

Wilson snapped a few last pictures as DiNozzo finished dusting for prints in the cab. "Yeah, sure. We've got enough now. How are you going to get it across town?"

Instead of answering, Gibbs swung up into the driver's seat. DiNozzo was already up in the cab and tossed the last fingerprint sample down to the officer nearest to him.

"Umm, Boss, do you actually know how to drive one of these things?" Gibbs looked way too happy to be behind the wheel and Tony scrambled to fasten his seat belt.

Gibbs found the two Santa hats wedged between the seats and tossed one to Tony. "DiNozzo, Marines can drive anything." The way the truck bounced and jerked didn't really convince the other man.

Wilson had called for more back up when he'd seen the large amounts of drugs in the warehouse, and he released two of the patrol cars to provide an escort for the truck. They made quite a sight traveling down nearly deserted roads, the flashing lights reflecting on the snow and the windows of the buildings as they passed by.

Outside St Mary's, the Major was waiting along with Santa Clause, who looked suspiciously like a retired commander Gibbs knew from Quantico. Major Bryant was obviously thrilled as he pumped Gibbs' arm. "Thank you, thank you so much. You have no idea what this means. Well, come on, let's get started." With a firm grip on Gibbs' upper arm, Bryant escorted him into the large hall, DiNozzo following behind.

Santa immediately went to the microphone in the center of the stage. "Boys and girls, I have some very good news. Earlier today, the load of toys I sent down from the North Pole was stolen by some very bad men." He held up his hand to quiet down the crowd. "Every year, the Marine Corps helps me bring the toys and they have their own police called NCIS. They tracked down the men that stole the truck and they brought it back for us."

This time Santa let the families have a few minutes to clap and cheer. Eventually he held his hand up again and the silence was almost instant. "Agent Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo, thank you and all of your team for helping to bring Christmas to these children. Would you men please stay and help me hand out gifts?"

Before they knew it, Gibbs and Tony were surrounded by children. The next two hours were a blur as they handed out gifts, helping the little ones with the packages. Eventually the last gift was given and parents gathered up sleepy little ones to brave the cold night.

Nancy Bryant brought over a tray of coffee mugs and joined the men and her son at the table. "I don't know how you did it, but I'm just grateful you did."

"It was a team effort." Gibbs tilted the mug in her direction in thanks. This was the longest he'd been without coffee that didn't involve a hostage. "I'm just glad we found it in time." While they were talking, Tony moved off to the side to answer his phone. His muffled curse told Gibbs that their day was not over yet.

DiNozzo didn't beat around the bush when he returned to the table. "That was Kate. McGee's missed his last two check-ins. Abby's been trying to trace his phone, but she can't get anything from it."

"He wasn't supposed to turn his phone off." Gibbs was already on his feet and pulling his coat back on. Do we know where his last confirmed sighting was?" Gibbs was halfway to the door before he stopped. "Crap, we don't have a car."

"Take mine." Santa tossed Gibbs a set of keys. Over dinner he'd heard from Major Bryant about the team member that was helping from the road. "Find your man, Gunny."


	15. Chapter 15

**a/n - I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, I am very grateful for each and every one of you.**

"Anything yet?" Gibbs arrived in MTAC at a full run, DiNozzo right on his heels. Not only were the rest of the team there, but the skeleton crew of technicians had filled out to a full crew. Even Director Morrow was there, on the phone with someone.

Kate shook her head. "According to the phone company, either his phone is damaged or the battery has been removed. They can't even activate it remotely."

Next to her, Abby was brushing away tears as she stared at a computer screen. "Without his phone, there's no way to track his location, Gibbs. I can't find him and I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye before he left."

Gibbs bent down and kissed her cheek. "We will, Abby. We'll find him."

"You're right, positive thoughts, positive thoughts. We're going to find him." Abby pressed her fingers to her temples as she chanted until Director Morrow interrupted her.

"We may have, Miss Sciuto. I just got off the phone with the locals up there. They're patching us through to the officers at a crash site." At the words, crash site, the room instantly became quiet. As senior agent, Gibbs asked the question.

"What have you found out, sir?"

Morrow looked worried. "Dr. Mallard was able to track him as far as the border between Pennsylvania and New York. He was behind a snowplow until they reached the border, we've confirmed that with the driver. State Troopers have a checkpoint just north of the town of Conklin, and he never reached it. That's less than a ten mile stretch of road, and they've confirmed that there's been a multiple car pile up right in the middle of it."

"Multiple cars as in a bunch of minor fender benders, or..." DiNozzo couldn't bring himself to finish the question in front of Abby and Kate.

When Tony's voice trailed off and Morrow didn't say anything, Abby started to hack into the state police dispatch records. She wasn't a quick as McGee would have been, but she was quick enough to find answers before they got the call. "Gibbs, oh my God, Gibbs, they've sent the coroner out to the accident. Gibbs, what do we do? We have to do something."

As soon as she said coroner, Gibbs looked to Ducky, who was already on his phone. They all watched Ducky as his expression changed form worry to relief. He stayed on the line with his contact in the coroner's office, but covered the mouthpiece of the phone to pass on what he had learned so far. "The fatality was a older male who appears to have succumbed to a heart attack."

The wave of relief was a physical presence in the secure room, but muted as Morrow was connected with a Trooper at the scene .He had it placed on speaker, so everyone could hear.

"This is Director Tom Morrow of NCIS. We have a missing agent who may be involved in the accident you're investigating. We're hoping for some help here locating him. We know he crossed into New York on I-81, but he never passed the checkpoint at Conklin. We're no longer receiving a GPS signal from his phone and he's missed his last two scheduled check-in's."

_Director, this is Trooper Metzger. Nobody's identified themselves as a federal agent, but if you can describe the car he's in, we'll double check._

In DC, Morrow turned to Gibbs who introduced himself and gave all the details about the car. Even over the speakers, they could hear the sudden worry in the trooper's voice.

_You said his car was green?_

"Yes, does that mean you've seen it?" Tony gave an apologetic shrug to Gibbs for cutting into the conversation, but the trooper didn't seem fazed at having so many people speaking to him. He also didn't directly answer the question.

_We've got almost a dozen cars involved in a pile-up on the highway and a semi-truck that slid off the road and down into a ravine. There's no green Datsun on the road, but the first vehicle in the accident has front end damage and green paint transfer. We were under the assumption that the damage was from an earlier accident, since it didn't match anything here, but we'll take another look at the ravine. It's possible he went over the edge with the truck._

"Can't you ask the driver of the car that you think hit him?" This time it was Kate jumping in. Abby was barely paying attention to the group conversation, as she was deeply into a conversation of her own.

_Driver was dead before the rescue personnel arrived. No visible injuries and he was slumped over, still clutching his chest, when they found him. We'll sweep the area again, see if we can find any indication of another car._

"Thank you, Officer Metzger. We'll be waiting to hear what you find." Morrow immediately turned to his people. "Suggestions?"

Abby was still on her cell phone, shoving one of the technicians out of his seat. She sat down at the controls for the main screen as she finished her call. "My friend at NASA has a satellite that's going to be within range in just a few minutes, well, with some adjustments that he's doing right now, it will be in range."

"Everything is covered in snow, Abs" Tony tried to break it to her gently. "I don't think there's a very good chance that...

"It's a thermal imaging satellite, Tony." By now she had Ashton up on the screen and they were linking MTAC into the live feed. When the image came up, they waited impatiently as it narrowed down onto the accident site, the pictures taking a few minutes to focus at each step. The residual warmth from the engines was visible, as were the accident victims and rescuers at the scene.

They waited while the satellite adjusted to better view the truck at the bottom of the ravine. Gibbs stared at the pixelated image as he pointed at the technician to get the state police back on the line. Trooper Metzger had barely started to speak before Gibbs interrupted him. "What's the cargo in the trailer?"

_Excuse me?_

"The cargo, what's in the trailer? We need to know." While he listened, Tony stared at the screen over Gibbs' shoulder. As the image cleared more, he could see what Gibbs had already seen. A faint heat signature was coming from the back end of the trailer, just in front of where the rear axle would be. There was a delay for a moment before the trooper came back with an answer.

_It's canned food, tomatoes to be precise. Does that help somehow?_

"Yes, it does." Everyone was getting excited, but they let Gibbs do the talking. "We're looking at a thermal image of the scene. There's a heat source either in or under the back half of that trailer, and it's the right size to be his car."

_All right... we'll take a look._

The trooper didn't sound overly convinced, but the satellite showed several bodies moving towards the trailer. They moved slowly at first, then picked up speed as the first ones reached what Gibbs hoped was the car. His confidence grew as more bodies converged on the heat source, but so did his impatience as they waited for confirmation from the ground.

Kate checked her watch. "Gibbs, McGee's father is going to be calling pretty soon. He's been calling about every three hours to check on Tim's progress."

"I know, Kate."

"Tim won't want his family worrying, especially if they can't do anything from their end."

"I know, Kate."

"We can't lie to them and tell them that's everything is all right, when we don't know that it is."

"I know, Kate."

"But..."

"Kate," Gibbs interrupted her this time. "Just pray we'll have some answers before he calls." She nodded, biting her lower lip, as the audio link crackled back to life.

_Hey, folks, I have someone who wants to talk to you._

_~Boss?~_

The voice was weak, but it was the one they wanted to hear. Tony had a crying woman on each shoulder as he stared at the ceiling, blinking rapidly while Ducky had dropped into the nearest chair. Even Gibbs steadied himself on the desk as he answered, his own voice rough.

"McGee? Tim, are you all right?"

_~Think so, tired, cold...~_

_Stay awake, Agent McGee. You can rest after we get you out of here. Do you remember what happened?_

The team listened as Metzger prodded McGee for information, grateful to hear him sound more aware as time went on. On the screen, they could see the heat signatures of more people arriving down in the ravine to help pull him to safety.

_~The truck in front of me started to fishtail and then it started to tip over. I stopped, but the car in back of me didn't. I remember being knocked forward and the truck coming at me. It was already on its side and when it went down the embankment, it took me with it. _

_When I woke up, it was quiet and dark and there was a big tire part way through my front windshield. I was only able to find a piece of my phone, nothing happened when I tried to use the horn to get somebody's attention, and I couldn't take a deep enough breath to yell loud enough for someone to hear me.~ _

_Agent McGee, I'm going to move out of the way and let the doc have a look at you, all right?_

They listened as Metzger moved out of the way and to where the trapped man couldn't hear him.

_Agent Gibbs, it's not going to bother your man that he's getting medical treatment from a coroner, is it?_

Gibbs smiled in relief as he looked at Ducky. "No, actually he's used to it."

_Oookay..._

Gibbs' smile grew wider at the uncertainty he heard in the trooper's voice, until he heard the rest.

_Your man is very lucky, but it's going to be pretty tricky getting him out of the car. Normally we'd bring in some heavy equipment, but that's not an option in this weather. It looks like we're going to have to cut the car apart as best we can and pull him out that way. Hang on, the doc's coming back up._

While they waited, Gibbs and Tony exchanged worried glances. Abby noticed the exchange and demanded to know what they knew. Gibbs tried to explain it without upsetting her. "Abby, the more of the car they have to cut away, the more exposed to the cold he'll be and the longer it will take to get him out." He hoped that would satisfy her, but he knew her scientific mind would be sorting out the facts.

One look at her face and he knew she had recognized the real risk. "When they start cutting into the car, will the rest of the car support the weight of the trailer?" Another voice over the audio link saved him from answering her.

_This is Dr. Chambers._

"Gerry, it's good to hear your voice. How's our boy doing?"

_Ducky? What a surprise. Everything considered, your boy is doing quite well. He has a concussion, of course, but he is orientated to time and place, so it is reasonably mild._ _There's no indication of any type of spinal injury or broken bones. We can't rule out internal injuries until he's warmed up and watched for a while, as you can imagine, but I don't suspect anything at the moment. Now, I'm going __to get back down there and monitor him while they work on getting him out._

"Thank you, Gerry. We were so worried when he disappeared out there."

_Ducky, if you don't mind my asking what case is so important, to send one agent alone out in this weather?_

He looked around at the worried faces in MTAC before answering. "Timothy's family lives in Dryden. His mother is near death and he's trying to get home to be with her."

_On Christmas? Well, crap, nobody deserves that, Ducky. I'll do everything in my power to get him patched up, but I don't have a clue how to get him to Dryden. I hear even the snowplows are being called back up there._

"He may not have a clue, but we do."

The group turned to see who had arrived. Major Bryant and another officer in a Santa suit had just been escorted in by one of the guards who was thanked by Morrow.

"I hope you don't mind, we've been monitoring the situation." Santa pulled off his hat and beard to show Gibbs that he had been right. The former base commander, General Richard Mallory, had been handing out toys that night. "Under the circumstances, and considering the help Agent McGee gave even while out in this storm, I've decided to call in a few favors of my own. We've got some Marines with a Snowcat en route to the accident scene. Depending on what the doctor says, they'll either get him to a hospital or to his family's home."

"Thank you, Sir."

As Mallory accepted Gibbs' handshake he reminded them of one basic fact. "We don't leave our people behind. Not on the battlefield, and not in a snow bank."

"We're going to lose the satellite image in a few minutes." Abby hated to break the news, but Ashton had juggled duties as long as he could.

"That's okay, Abby, he's got help now." Despite his words, Gibbs never took his eyes off the screen until it went blank.


	16. Chapter 16

**a/n - Almost done, one more chapter after this one. Have you enjoyed the ride?**

Even after the satellite image was gone, Gibbs had to force himself to look away from the wall of monitors Only the arrival of Faith Coleman truly distracted him from the silent screens. She had a joyful look on her face until she walked in and saw the worry and concern. "What happened?"

Before Gibbs could answer her, the call from Dennis McGee came in. Kate and Tony took Faith off to the side to bring her up to date while Gibbs took the call, still not sure just what he would tell the worried father.

"Hey, Dennis, it's Gibbs."

_Have you heard from Tim? The roads here are almost impassable. Sheriff Gibson got Robert here on a snowmobile a couple of hours ago, and it's still getting worse. He said that they're going to close the surface streets soon._

"I just talked to Tim a few minutes ago. He's not going to be able to get there by car, but we're working on alternative transportation for him right now."

_One of our neighbors called a while ago and said that I-81 was closed because of a wreck. Did he get past that yet?_

"Not exactly." Gibbs wasn't going to lie to the man, but he hoped to not give too many details until he knew more himself.

_What do you mean... was he in it, Agent Gibbs? Was he hurt?_

"His car was damaged, but like I said, we've spoken to him and as soon as our back up transport arrives, he'll be on his way again." Gibbs waited to see if that would be accepted by McGee's father. The older McGee didn't sound entirely convinced.

_All right, but have Tim call me as soon as he can. We're pretty helpless here right now. There's so much snow drifted up against the garage door it would take Robert and I hours to dig the car out. I just... I just need to hear his voice. I need him to call and tell me that he's okay._

"Of course." Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief when the call ended. Kate glared at him as she called him on his lack of details.

"You should have told him, Gibbs."

"He told him what was needed, Kate. Probie wouldn't want them to worry, that's our job." DiNozzo gave the women in the room his most dazzling smile, hoping to convince them.

Gibbs didn't waste any time trying to convince Kate. Instead, he turned his attention to Faith Coleman. "You looked rather pleased with yourself when you got here."

"Oh, I'm very pleased with myself. Sharon's boy-toy lawyer won't be having a very Merry Christmas, after all."

"Really?" Gibbs' eyebrow raised in amusement. So, I take it that you were successful in tracking some of his more unsavory activities? Enough for disbarment?"

"Forget disbarment, how about ten to twenty in the federal penitentiary?" Behind Faith, Tony leaned over to whisper theatrically in Kate's ear.

"Who's Sharon?"

Faith happily told her part of the story, after which she received a high five from Kate and a hug from Abby. Tony tried for his own hug, but the JAG lawyer had witnessed enough head slaps to know what to do. While DiNozzo was rubbing the back of his head, Gibbs passed on Robert McGee's thanks to Faith Coleman and his promise to take care of his brother and family.

"Sir, we have a message coming in from the crash site." Those words from the technician monitoring what was happening brought all other conversations to a standstill. Morrow nodded and the familiar voice of the trooper bounced through MTAC.

_Director Morrow, Agent Gibbs, we're preparing to get your man out of the car in a few minutes. I don't know how you managed it, but a whole squadron of Marines just showed up with heavy equipment and they're shoring the trailer up right now._

A cheer went up in MTAC and Morrow waited until it quieted to respond. "Agent Gibbs and his team are pretty popular with the Marines right now, son. So, tell us, how is McGee doing? I've got a room full of people here worried about him."

_Dr. Chambers is staying pretty close to keep an eye on him. He's been drifting in and out, but we've got his upper body wrapped up pretty good in some emergency blankets and the Doc's got a warm IV started from the medical supplies the Marines brought. Looks like that's helping._

"What about his blood pressure?" Ducky was worried after listening to the comments. "Is he showing any additional symptoms of internal bleeding?" They waited and listened as the questions were relayed down to the coroner. Rather than answer within earshot of his patient, Dr. Chambers crawled out from under the trailer to speak to them directly.

_Ducky, it's Gerry. He's still stable, and his blood pressure is just slightly depressed. I'm hoping getting some of his fluids replaced will bring it back up to normal._

"What about internal bleeding? Is he showing any symptoms?

_His abdomen seems fine. I was worried about his legs, but we managed to jack up the dashboard and get some of the pressure off them. I'm hoping that restored the blood flow before any permanent damage was done. He has a previous injury on his lower leg that has opened back up, but I can't reach it yet to deal with the wound._

"And the head injury?" Ducky was encouraged, but he wouldn't relax fully until Tim was out of the car and somewhere safe and warm.

_Pupils are still equal. Reactions are a little slow, but that is to be expected. It's been long enough that I'm reasonably sure he doesn't have a brain bleed. His ride home is here and just to be safe, I'm going to tag along. That way if he starts to develop any complications, I'll be there to deal with it._

Ducky was stunned and grateful. "Gerry, that is so generous, but what about your family? Won't they be upset if you don't get back home before the holidays?"

_My soon to be ex is vacationing in the Bahamas. My son is in Vermont meeting his girlfriend's parents. I can either sit at home alone or I can help a young man that obviously means a great deal to my old friend. Easy decision._

"Gerry, thank you." Ducky looked around the crowded room. He'd never seen MTAC so full of so many worried people. "I can't even begin to tell you how much that means to all of us here."

_I'm just glad I was in a position to help. Now they're getting ready to pull him out of the car, so I'd better get back down there. If there's any hidden injuries, I want to be right there to deal with them. Trooper Metzger will keep you posted on our progress._

As they waited, Gibbs watched Tony pace, which wasn't helping the stress levels in the room. "DiNozzo, settle down. They'll have him pulled free in a few minutes."

Tony stopped moving forward, but was bouncing on his toes. "Oh, come on, Boss, don't you watch the movies? Right as the rescue is happening, and everybody starts to relax is when it all goes to hell."

It was Abby who stopped him with a slap on the chest. "Don't say that, Positive thoughts, Tony, positive thoughts. They're going to get him out of there just fine."

Tony rubbed at his stinging chest. "Okay, Abby, I got it. Positive thoughts it is."

_Okay, folks, they're starting to lift the trailer off his car. Boy, I'll tell you, we were sure glad when those Marines showed up because the roof of that little car was starting to give way. The trailer tire was only about six inches from his head by the time they got it braced up._

Back in MTAC, the trooper's words drove home just how dire Tim's situation was. They listened as his mike picked up the sounds of straining metal while the rescue progressed. Muffled shouts and a loud crash brought them all to their feet. "What was that? What's happening?"


	17. Chapter 17

**a/n - Here it is, the final chapter. Thank you all for your wonderful comments, they are all cherished. Have a terrific new years.**

Gibbs wanted to reach through the audio link and strangle somebody as his yells were ignored. With no options available to him, all he could do was to repeat himself. "What's happened? What in the hell is going on?"

With no answers coming, he glanced around the room. Kate's head was bowed, her lips moving; she was obviously praying. Tony's head was in the opposite direction. Looking up, he appeared to be trying to make a deal for his Probie's survival. Abby would be screaming, but for the hands she had pressed against her mouth. Ducky's arms around her waist were the only thing keeping her upright. Even Faith Coleman wore a stunned expression as she clung to one of the technicians who not only looked stunned, but also terrified at his own personal predicament. In the corner, General Mallory, still wearing the Santa suit, was trying to get through to his men on the scene.

Tom Morrow stepped forward and rested his hand on Gibbs' shoulder. "Have faith, Jethro. I refuse to believe that we've gone this far with him to lose him now."

_Director? Agent Gibbs? Sorry about that, it got kind of hairy here for a few minutes. The trailer buckled and took the supports with it._

"Just tell me you got him out in time." Gibbs really didn't care about the technical explanations.

_They got him, sir. They took him straight to the Snow-cat, but I could tell that he was conscious._

Gibbs had to shout to be heard over the cheering. "Were there any injuries among the rescuers?"

_Nope, everybody made it out all right. His car is definitely toast now, though. The trailer tire that was over his head tore through the floor board. If it had taken another twenty seconds to get him out... _

They could hear him swallow as the realization also echoed through MTAC. It was a few moments before Trooper Metzger continued.

_That kid of yours must have a whole passel of guardian angels looking out for him tonight._

Smiling, Gibbs looked around the room. From the director who pulled his own strings to reunite the family one last time to the team mates who came together when it mattered most. The doctor who had more contacts than the rest of the agency combined, the general who was touched by the story of a son, willing to help the less fortunate even when he was struggling so hard, and finally even the guys in the garage that stayed to hear if Tim had made it home safe and the technicians who sat at their computers in MTAC throughout the night, working to keep them all connected.

"Yeah, he's got a whole room full of them here. Is there any chance we can talk to him before the Snow-cat leaves?"

_My system can't reach that far, but I'll see what I can do. Ah, it looks like someone in the Cat is getting him a cellphone._

"Thank you for everything. Without your help out there..."

_I'm glad we could help, sir. It's not everyday you get to be part of a Christmas miracle._

The ringing of Gibbs' phone brought instant silence to the room. It wasn't a number he recognized, but Gibbs didn't hesitate to answer it. "Gibbs."

_Hey, Boss_.

"Tim." His team might have been shocked at the relief in Gibbs' voice, if they hadn't been sagging in relief themselves. "Hey, buddy, you okay?"

_Yeah, I think so. I'm sore, but nothing too bad._

Gibbs fumbled for a moment, but found the button to put his cell phone on speaker. "What about your leg? They said it was bleeding again."

_They've got it all bandaged up. It's too cold to hurt, but Dr. Chambers didn't seem too worried about it. _

"You listen to the doctor. If he says you need a hospital, then you go to the hospital."

_I don't think I could put up much of a fight right now, Boss, but I just feel so bad about the car. You put so much into it for me, the tires and the heater and it's..._

"Tim, you were able to drive safely because of those tires, right? Right up until you were hit by a vehicle twice the size of yours."

_Well, yeah..._

"And that heater kept you warm for all the hours you were out on the road. Not only did the heat keep you from freezing to death before you were found, but it helped your car show up on the thermal imaging satellite. Nobody on the scene saw your car under the truck. That probably saved your life. I consider it money well spent, we all do." Around Gibbs everyone agreed.

_Thanks, Boss, and tell everyone else thank you for me, would you?_

"Will do, now you call your dad. He knows about the accident closing the freeway and that your car was damaged. Let him know that you're all right." After McGee promised to make that call and disconnected his end of the connection to do so, Gibbs had a hard time closing his own phone.

Amidst the celebrating, only Morrow noticed him still staring at his open phone. He reached over and closed it for Gibbs, leaning close to whisper in his ear. "Sometimes letting go is the hardest part of all." Giving the other man a moment, Morrow rapped his knuckles on one of the consoles. "It's after midnight, folks, and now officially Christmas Eve. There's a buffet set up in Conference Room One, help yourselves."

With relief came hunger and the group happily left MTAC for the conference room. Mrs. Morrow met them there as she laid out the last of the food. The presence of the Morrows' grown children confirmed what Gibbs had suspected. Director Morrow had asked his wife to pack up their traditional holiday meal and bring it down to headquarters. The two men exchanged knowing looks as the room filled with laughter and an impromptu celebration began.

---NCIS---

The food had been wiped out and most of the people had long since left for the holiday, but Gibbs was still wandering through the squad room, unable to settle down. McGee had been checked out at the local hospital and would be arriving at his family's home anytime. Still, he couldn't quite convince himself that it was over. After months of watching out for the struggling young man and the intense mission of getting him home, he was turning Tim over to his own family. Morrow was right, it was hard to let go.

Just as he was starting another circuit around the room, his phone rang, the caller ID showing the McGee family home. "Yeah, Gibbs."

_Hey, Boss._

The greeting he heard was certainly familiar, but the exhaustion he heard behind it wasn't. "I bet you're glad to be home. That was quite a trip."

_Adventure is more like it. I don't think I've ever driven through something like that._

"Not too many people have, McGee. You should get some rest, kid. You're certainly earned it."

_I'm going to, Boss. I just wanted to say thank you. Not just for all the help you gave me with my car, but for my trip home. The whole time I was out there, I knew you were just a phone call away. Even when I was trapped under that trailer, I wasn't scared because I knew you would find me in time. _

"Tim..." Gibbs knew his team depended on him, counted on him, but never so poignantly as at that moment. "Always, McGee, always. Now, you've got a chance to really say goodbye to someone you love. Not many of us get that, so use your time wisely, alright? Don't worry about anything else, just be with your family."

_I will Boss, have a good Christmas._

"Take care of yourself, McGee." Gibbs closed his phone and stepped to the window. Down in the parking lot the wind was picking up the snow, twirling it around, reminding him of a Christmas years ago.

_"Daddy, look at me." Kelly spun around, showing off her new dress, the pale green chiffon dancing around her legs. "I'm so happy that you're home for Christmas. It's not Christmas when you're not here, Daddy. Can we play in the snow after Church?"_

_"Sure we can, baby. Are you ready for tonight? Do you have your lines memorized?" He caught her in mid-air and spun her around. "You're going to be the prettiest angel in the Christmas program_.

Gibbs leaned his forehead against the cold glass. "Not many of us get the chance to say goodbye."

---NCIS---

"Morning, Kate, you've been shopping?" Tony looked up as Kate dropped several bags behind her desk.

She unwrapped her scarf as she sat down. "Day after Christmas sales are the best around, Tony. Stores opened early. Who's Gibbs talking to? Is it McGee?"

Tony shrugged. "Don't know. Been talking on the phone since I got here." They watched as Gibbs hung up his desk phone with a strange look on his face.

"Gibbs, was that McGee? How's his mother?" Kate perched on her chair as she watched him.

"Actually, that was Dr. Chambers. He's still with the family." Gibbs didn't look at either of then as he rubbed his mouth. "Before they left, the Marines made sure that they had plenty of wood for the fireplace and they helped carry Maggie's hospital bed downstairs so she could see the Christmas tree."

"So she got her Christmas with her family?" Kate's voice was soft, almost reverent as she asked.

"She woke up lucid that morning and had a quiet Christmas day with her husband and children at her side. They spent the day looking through photo albums and remembering their lives together."

"That sounds nice, Boss."

Gibbs nodded at Tony's words, still not looking at them. "She made it through the day and slipped into a coma just after midnight. She passed about an hour ago."

"Wow." Kate blinked back her tears at the pain she knew their young partner must be feeling. "She truly was just holding on for Christmas."

"How's he getting back, Boss? I mean, his car was totaled." Tony didn't deal well with honest emotions, so he tried to stay practical.

Gibbs understood. "Robert is using some of the money Faith got returned to him to help Tim get a car. Apparently after he arrived home, Robert told their parents the whole story about his ex and how she fleeced him and how Tim covered for him so they wouldn't worry."

The three of them fell silent, each lost in thought when Director Morrow came into the squad room. "Agent Todd?"

"Yes, sir?" Kate sat up straight as he came up to her desk.

"Now that Christmas is over, I'm able to bring in a TAD to cover for you. It's not Christmas, but at least you can spend New Years with your family."

"Thank you, sir." She seemed distracted and not all that excited at the prospect of going home. Director Morrow noticed.

"Is there a problem, Agent Todd?"

Kate shook her head. "No sir, I just thought that I'd go up to Dryden instead. There will be a lot of people coming in for the funeral and I thought I'd go help, if that's all right. I appreciate the chance to go home, but I think that's where I should be. Gibbs looked at her for the first time that day, a look of pride on his face.

"Thanks, Kate, I know that will mean a lot to him."

Kate shrugged, embarrassed by the three men beaming at her. "It's no big deal, and I can always go home next Christmas. Right?"

Tom Morrow nodded at her. "Absolutely, Agent Todd. Next year you'll get to go home for Christmas."


End file.
